For five decades, the title of "five-virtue family" was what people used to strive to achieve, but Beijing recently replaced it with "harmonious family". The new set of standards, especially the one that says "a harmonious family should own more than 300 books, travel frequently and go on family outings", has sparked a controversy. The criteria that make a "harmonious family" in these changing times no longer seem to be that "harmonious", says an article in Huaxi Metropolis Daily. Excerpts:

Many netizens disagree with the new set of standards propounded by the authorities. Some netizens think the criteria that require family to go shopping and travel frequently as well as have access to the Internet deprive low-income families of the chance to be being chosen as a "harmonious family". Some netizens have even asked whether relevant authorities consulted the public before approving of the new set of standards.

The Beijing Women's Federation has said that according to online discussions, the criteria for a harmonious family cannot be fixed and further amendments are needed to decide on the standards. But whether or not later criteria would be convincing, credible and acceptable for all remains a question.

In fact, there are no exercisable standards to define a harmonious family. To some extent, it is inevitable that such criteria will be questioned. Altogether, 200 "harmonious families" will be selected from among the roughly 5.25 million families in Beijing every two years, which would indicate that the rest are unharmonious.

The criteria for a "five-virtue family" played an important role in guiding healthy social customs and values. With the fast paced economic development, values and family composition have become more diversified; they cannot be evaluated by any one set of standards.

Perhaps it would be better if relevant departments promoted concepts such as life-long education and volunteer service to help build harmonious families.

(China Daily 02/08/2012 page9)