Shaun
You have come to a position of great learning (IMHO) :icon_cheesygrin::icon_cheesygrin:
Western feminism and our legalisation of the equality issues have certainly skewed the traditional roles of male and female in our relationships. I make no comment as to whether this is good or bad....but it sure aint natural !!!
It may well be that as any society evolves, the male/female roles will get blurred and eventually we will all be androgenous...who knows!!
As we know, China is still strongly Patriarchal, male dominated and our Ladies have grown up with this model. In our Western way, we then expect them to jump straight into a relationship of equals.
Because they really want to find their future partner in the West, they try to behave as they think the model they have of the western way suggests they should behave...but they dont really have the background and skills to carry it off successfully....and I for one, dont think they really want that sort of relationship anyway.
But they really dont have many skills to manage a "western" style relationship, and often they have almost no relationship skills at all, because their previous marriage was based on "he's the boss...period".
Brett, dont be fooled by perceptions...Momma is the complete boss when it comes to running the household, organising the family, doing the shopping and all the daily domestic affairs...but in the core issues...Dad is King !!
So I am sure that we should understand this a bit better...try to establish a leadership role, dont be a dictator, have some firm boundaries and let them have their level of control on what they do best...homemaker, friend, confidant and all the lovely womanly things that we miss in our own world.
After all, thats why we come to China in the first place...to find an attractive, charming, intelligent but feminine woman.