Army men's Marriage-解放军的婚事 Part 2

Be in a relationship observing the disciplines and laws

"In-service members of the Army are not allowed to cohabit with their partners before marriage; not allowed to have sexual relations outside marriage; are not allowed to marry foreigners."

Once they've started a relationship, army men will have to be in a relationship observing the disciplines and laws.

Startin from his first day in the military, Li Xuxuan knew from elder soldiers or Politics-Ideology class by supervisors that in the army, there are regulations on love as well. Later on, regulations like 'army men are not allowed to participate in socializing activities organized by local mass media' are clearly written down on his notebook.

Restrictions on army men's marriage and love life brought by the strict rules in the military are manifested in a number of ways. The General Political Department issued "Regulations on the Army's implements of the Marriage Law and other issues"in November 2001, which provides clear and detailed rules on army men's age of late marriage, criteria of their spouses and other issues.

For example, in dealing with marital relations, in-service army men should be observing the Marriage Law and act as role models; they are not allowed to cohabit with their partners before marriage; not allowed to have sexual relations outside marriage; after starting a relationship with non-ranking officers, military officers should inform the Party organization in their unit; their partners are supposed to go through political examinations by political organs on regimental level or above;partners of naval vessel servicemen, air duty servicemen and staff in confidentiality departments should not have sophisticated social relations; in-serviece soldiers are not allowed to marry foreigners;if soldiers of Han group wish to marry ethnic partners with the custom to marry the same ethnic group, generally they are advised to give up the marriage; compulsory servicemen are not allowed to get married within their service period, and in principle, sergeants are not allowed to marry partners with those who are in the stationed place or in the same unit.

In grass-roots units, political organs would organize lessons on views and values on marriage and relationship, in order to help the army men to 'build up correct values on marriage and relationship'.

In recently years, love skills have become the content of the lessons, for example, "in daily life, soldiers should be considerate to their partners, make regular phone call ect., and make them feel the sweetness of love, and gain their understanding and support to our enterprise." There are other strategies like "open the bottle cap for your girlfriend, save seats for your girlfriend on public transportation vehicles, be a gentleman when you first meet someone etc." Meanwhile, the military also encourages the soldiers to achieve expertise on their position, learn computer operation, driving, cooking and other skills to strengthen their competitiveness.

Spouses of Li Yuxuan's fellow army man is busy holding a small gathering for him and has invited some single ladies. This fellow army man has passed his wisdom on 'love rules' to him: demonstrate your soldierly style in relationship; don't make girls disappointed on army men; win public praise for 'successors'; be honest; be responsible and so on.