pre-Liberation China allowed for the marriage of child brides or "adopting a daughter" (sending a daughter off at the age of five to live and grow up with her betrothed's family to save on bride price), relative exchange (i.e., marrying a brother and sister from one family to the sister and brother of another family to save the bride price), selling of daughters into marriage for the settling of debts, and forcing children into unwanted marriages for purely economic reasons. Refusal by the children could mean beatings and/or expulsion from the family. Many young women resorted to suicide to resolve their dilemmas (Honig and Hershatter, 1988).
When the Guomindang came into power, however, and later with the take over by the People's Republic of China, the rights of women as citizens began to be recognized. The government understood that the only way for them to be as important, if
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