To help newlyweds adjust to their new roles (as husbands and wives), Changzhi Women's Federation during the past few years has established growth schools (for newlyweds) in several counties and districts in Changzhi, a city in North China's Shanxi Province. The schools have conducted various activities to help newlyweds improve their marriages, and relationships within their families.

Helping Newlyweds Improve Quality of Marriage

Working Committee on Women and Children and various other organizations in 2018 initiated the Newlyweds' Growth Project. Organizers in recent years have provided multiple services to couples, including providing lectures and offering advice to couples, to help them manage their marriages and/or resolve family disputes.

Huang Xi, head of the project team, tells Women of China the team's members during the past several years have provided psychological counseling to couples, so they could better understand how to improve their marriages and family relations.

In 2019, the project team began inviting psychologists to provide lectures to youths of marriage age in various communities (in Changzhi), to help them better understand how a couple can live in harmony.

To date, all of Changzhi's counties and districts have established growth schools (14 in total), and those schools have conducted more than 280 activities, in which more than 12,000 newlyweds have participated. Many of the participants have said they have benefited greatly from the activities, as they have not only improved their ability to improve family relations, but they have also gained a better understanding of the correct views on love, families and childbearing.

New Highlights

Huang, who is also president of Changzhi Xihe Social Work Service Center, has accumulated rich experiences in her work. She is also a psychologist and a member of the Executive Committee of Changzhi Women's Federation. Huang in recent years has visited many families, in various regions of Changzhi, to encourage newlyweds to attend the growth schools.

To encourage more newlyweds to attend the schools, Huang during the past several years has led her team's members in providing online courses, to teach couples how to improve their family relations, and how to educate and care for their children in a scientific way.

Huang has also led her team in holding varied, colorful activities, including psychological salons and activities to help couples improve their skills in cooking, making tea, arranging flowers and/or practicing yoga.

Many of the team's members work enthusiastically. Duan Yanmei, a member of the team, believes her work is meaningful. "I've been married for 22 years. I have a great relationship with my husband. We both treasure our marriage and family," says Duan. "In fact, a secret to having a happy family is understanding what you expect from your marriage, and never regretting your decision (to marry your spouse) ... I have shared my psychological knowledge and understanding of marriage with trainees ... on how to manage one's marriage."

Huang and many cadres with Changzhai Women's Federation believe, affected by relationships within the family, many people have psychological and/or behavioral problems. "Previously, hardly any one received training before they got married or gave birth ... We (the team's members) are pleased to help our trainees improve family relations," says Huang.

Huang tells Women of China about her plan to improve her team's service. "We will attract more youths ... to attend our courses, so they will learn how a couple should live in harmony, and how they should prepare for pregnancy and take care of newborns. We will also try our best to help newlyweds establish correct values on love and marriage. That, in turn, will promote social harmony and stability," says Huang.

Photos Supplied by Interviewee

(Women of China English Monthly May 2022 issue)