Within social anthropology research of Chinese marriage, shim-pua marriage is referred to as a "minor marriage" because the daughter-in-law joins her future husband's household when both are minors, in contrast to Chinese major marriage, in which the bride joins her husband's household on the day of the wedding.[3] The shim-pua daughter was often adopted into a family who already had a son to whom she would be betrothed, though this was not always the case.