Abstract：It is a great significance to analyze and study this concept of marriage morality to further excavate the spiritual wealth embodied in Chinese and English literature，to critically inherit the tradition of historical culture，and to promote contemporary family and marriage moral construction.

Key words：Marriage concept；Cultural differences；A Dream in Red Mansions；Pride and Prejudice

1 Analysis of Writing Backgrounds

The Britain in Eighteenth Century was still a patriarchal society and women seemed to be given a lot of rights.Such as going out to dance，getting along with the opposite sex，and so on.But women do not have the right to inherit property，and they also couldn’t go out to work and they must rely on their marriage if they wanted to survive and to get the support of life.As a result，many women don’t regard love as their prerequisite of choosing husband，but pay attention to the economic income，social status etc.At that time，when women chose their husband and mothers chose sons-in-law，the dominate factor is material possessions，the vast majorities were dominated by rationality.In their eyes，what they are looking for is not only a husband or a son-in-low，but also the safeguard of their future life in a way.

China has been ruled by the feudal system for a long time，and was a typical patriarchal society，so the concept of marriage is a bit of traditional relatively.Since ancient times，China has followed Confucianism，and perfect match in family status was a necessary conditions to successful marriage.Lovers usually could not obey their own wish.In China，there is an old saying“Dictates of parents and words of matchmakers”，so marriage is always decided by parents，and they usually invite matchmakers to have a matchmaking，and both men and women even haven’t seen each other before marriage.Free love and free marriage are not allowed by feudal ethics before marriage，and children must obey their parents，which is called filial piety.The book of songs said that“Taking a wife must to tell the parents，lovers cannot get married without matchmakers.”

2 Comparative Analysis of the Protagonists’ Marriage in Two Works

In the work Pride and Prejudice，As for Mr.Darcy，no one can deny that Elizabeth’s choice is partly because of his wealth and social status.After Elizabeth’s first rejection，she is invited to visit Pemerley with her aunt and uncle.Elizabeth was delighted.She had never seen a place for which nature had done more，or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste.They were all of them warm in their admiration；and on that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something！“With these rooms I might now have been familiarly acquainted！Instead of viewing them as a stranger，I might have rejoiced in them as my own，and welcome to them as visitors my uncle and aunt.”（Austen，2007，p.224）In the end，Elizabeth moves in Pemberley and gets married with Darcy.But economic fundament is essential security for their successful marriage.When Elizabeth’s sister，Jane asks her how long she have loved him.Elizabeth replies that“It has been coming on so gradually that I hardly know when it began.But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley.”（Austen，2007，p.338）Here Pemberley stands for wealth and family status.Even Elizabeth herself also admits that property and social status plays a significant role in their ideal marriage.

In A Dream in Red Mansions，Cao Xueqin successfully shaped the two typical rebellious characters：Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu.He depicted the love tragedy profoundly and vividly.Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu were childhood sweethearts and innocent playmates，and in that particular environment，they fell in love.What a deep and sincere love they had.Lin Daiyu had an arrogant and frank natural disposition，and she was a feudal rebellious person as same as Jia Baoyu，so she never advised Bao Yu to go to the feudal official.Since having met Lin Daiyu，Baoyu was infatuated with her.Unfortunately，even though they had common hobby，and loved each other deeply，they couldn’t escape the feudal ethics eventually.Baochai is also a beautiful and wise women，she is good at poet，and embroidering.She always persuade Baoyu to acquiring fame and status.But Baoyu doesn’t like it，he doesn’t want to pursue that and just want to have his own life，and follow his heart.Unfortunately，Baoyu was deceived by his family to marry Baochai，and Daiyu died at the same time.Baoyu and Daiyu’s love tragedy is the tragedy of history.In that era，withering of the love flower was inevitable.

Both of these two works are pay attention to the property and social status in marriage conception，but the reason of the different love ending is that Parents style in China.Everyone needs to listen to their parents and follow their parents’choice，and property and social status are more important than love.However，in western countries，they don’t need to follow their parents’attitude，just make choice by themselves.On another hand，from comparing，we can find that according to Austen，it is not sensible to marry for money，but it is silly to marry without money.Marriage is associated with property and social status，but it is not resolved by them.The first step to choose an ideal husband is to examine his virtue and personal qualitative.The second one is to take his social status into consideration.Adequate living conditions could not be the first element but an important component.A person could be judged by his living and educational background.Last but not least，it is true love.Love is a magic power to bring two strangers into one，which dispels pride and prejudice between lovers，and also constructs mutual respect and understanding.

3 Comparative Analysis of different cultures in Two Works

3.1 Economic Status in Marriage

In China，Since ancient times，the match was an important standard of the people’s choice.People in marriage paid too much attention to the caste，property，but placed personality，emotion，conservation personal factors and etc，in an insignificant or even dispensable position，which caused a lot of marriage tragedies.In A Dream in Red Mansions，Daiyu lost her parents when she was young，and she had a frail health，so she did not take care of herself in daily life.There was little chance for Daiyu to marry Baoyu and to take care of him.Although she was the granddaughter of Jia Mu，she had nothing to rely on，only in the mansion Jia to live a destitute life.In Ming Dynasties and Qing Dynasties，wealth gradually became more and more important.

In the west，economic status is also important in marriage.In Pride and Prejudice，the rich people have greater opportunity in choosing their own marriage.Such as Darcy and Bingley，when the news of their arrival at Netherfirld spread out，what a great enjoyment.It is among the mothers and daughters，especially Mrs.Bennet，who has five unmarried daughters.Bingley has a yearly income of four thousand and Darcy of ten thousand.They don’t need to worry about their living，they have enough time and money to spend.What they really want to do is to find a suitable wife.

3.2 Different Standard in Marriage

Due to the different cultural backgrounds，the criterion of young men and women in the spouse choosing are also different.In feudal society，chastity was the core of women’s value and moral character，and it was also the main standard for male to female.But in the woman’s talent，we believe in“Innocence is the virtue for women.”Therefore，women’s ignorance，thought blocking，and enslavedness，even thinking，were be deemed to a matter of course.So they became the biggest victim of obscurantism.In A Dream in Red Mansions，Xue Baochai is full of learning，but she abides by female virtues，wise and righteous，abides by the feudal morality，etiquette，conservative thought，and never resist secularity.While Lin Daiyu was brilliant，bellyful of classics，smart，and she had advanced ideas.However，she had rebellious character，unyielding in the shackles of feudal ethical and she strongly opposed to secular stereotyped.Therefore，Jia Baoyu was the lifeblood of mansion Jia，and his marriage must be carefully considered，so JiaMu（Jia Baoyu’s grandmather）and Lady Wang（Jia Baoyu’s mother）would certainly tend to Baochai in choosing the spouse of Baoyu，Which led to the love tragedy.

In western society，the Britain in eighteenth century was eager for money，and attached great importance to social status，but every man who owned property was wandering to marry a kind，wise，gentle and virtuous woman as his wife.Therefore，the more intelligent and beautiful the women was，the deeper favor of the man would have.Nowadays，women’s status has been greatly raised.They have the equal opportunity as men for getting well educated and having the same jobs.The percentage of women in possession has been larger than that of men.In the modern society，sometimes marriage is not the only form to get together.However；these qualities from the novel cannot be omitted：the respect for others，the understanding of one’s own heart，and the correct principles learned by lessons and the pursuit of happiness and love.Pride and Prejudice explores the moral and social conditions of life in the early 19th century in that enable us both to understand the earlier time and examine with greater insight into our own attitudes and actions within the moral and social conditions in our own time.It enables us to determine ways in which our decisions about love，marriage，and proper behavior are made.These reflect our own truths about what is ultimately right and wrong.The novel Pride and Prejudice，has the reward of women’s apprenticeship to life—marriage.Through Elizabeth’s choice toward marriage，three fundamental standards of Austen’s ideal man can be drawn：love，property and social status，virtue and esteem.

4 Conclusion

Through the above comparisons，we have a more obvious understanding of the differences and the forming reasons between the Chinese and Western marriage concept，and tend to understand the background of Chinese and Western culture and history.While helping us see the cultural differences between different ethics with abroad review.Understanding the different cultures will make us have a better dialogue and communication with different ethics，and make intercultural communication and cross-cultural communication better and better.The different history between China and the western determines the different marriage culture.China has been ruled in the feudal for a long time，so the marriage concept is traditional.The western counties possessed an open marriage concept due to the pursuit of national independence.

To sum up，whether in China or in the west，people are always pursuing the free love in their own country.There are a number of commons between Chinese and the Western，both economic and social status.The traditional concept of marriage is generally believed that wealth is the most critical part of marriage，and it is the basis for the perfect marriage life.Both of the authors of A Dream in Red Mansions and Pride and Prejudice hold the view of criticism and satire to the secular marriage concept.

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作者简介

张萌（1993.06—），性别：女；民族：汉；籍贯：陕西省宝鸡市；学历：硕士在读；专业：汉语国际教育。