Marry Mr. Rich or Mr. Right?

A recent survey on the values of female students from 10 universities in Guangzhou conducted by several government agencies in the city shows that nearly 60 percent of respondents want to marry the "Rich Second Generation," or children of rich people, because it can save them many years of personal struggle.

The survey in Guangzhou is just an example. An earlier survey of female university students in Nanjing also found that most girls want to marry a rich man, and money weighs heavier than good character in their eyes. In order to "struggle less" or "not struggle at all," certain female students have chosen to marry a rich man, reflecting their desire to reap without sowing and "spiritual degeneration." However, due to value pluralism, they do have the freedom to choose their own destinies, or to marry a rich man in this case, as long as they do not break the law.

Marrying a rich man does not necessarily mean monetizing love. There are both playboys and loyal men in the "Affluent Second Generation." Love without money is not necessarily true love, and love with money is not necessarily fake love. The real question lies in whether the criteria for good marriages should contain money and good character, or just money. According to mainstream values, true love is a precondition for good marriages. If a girl just wanted to marry a rich man regardless of his character or true feelings, her "good marriage" would just be self-deception. Such a marriage is the "hell of soul," way worse than the "tomb of love."

It is worth noting that a girl actually has no bottom line if she considers money to be the sole criterion for good marriages. As the story goes, three people owned businesses of different scales. The first person abandoned his moral principles facing the temptation of 30,000 yuan, the second person did so facing the temptation of 50,000 yuan, and the third person did so facing the temptation of 300,000 yuan. All three businesspeople had their principles, but could not resist the temptation of money, so they broke the principles one by one. What the story wants to tell us is that it will be difficult to adhere to principles if their differences only lie in quantity rather than quality. Certain girls who initially wanted to marry a rich man regardless of his character have ended up being a married man's mistress. In addition, it is an open secret that certain female university students have degenerated into rich men's "weekend lovers."

Many people have argued that today's female university students prefer marrying a rich man to landing a good job because of the sluggish job market. Some have even defended those materialistic girls by saying that love will starve to death without bread. Indeed, it is difficult to land a good job or start a good business, but it is also true that those girls still have enough "bread" at the moment. If they marry a man just because he is rich, they will have way more "bread" and their "love" will not starve to death. However, a question arises: Do their love still exist? Certain mistresses have more "bread" than they can eat, but their love starved to death long ago, and their "soul" has become homeless.