In most studies of family development, emphasis is usually placed on the examination system, bureaucracy and marriage. Among those dimensions, marriage had a positive effect on the establishment of elite families' status. Is the families' marriage to be discussed from other angles besides the perpetuation of elite status and strategic benefit? The Fang family of Pu-tian providest a new angle for analying the families' marriage. A scholarly group was shaped by the Fang's charitable, literary and educational activities with other families. In this culture circle, the members' ideologies were close one another. Because of the familiarization, the friendship between these families gradually developed from culture circle to marriage circle. Therefore, strategic benefit was not the main consideration in marriage, especially for the internal marriages of elite families. It was a cultural phenomenon. They shared the same mode of life, so they arranged marriages within the same culture circle. Besides, the regional distribution of the Fang's marriages was related to the Fang's development. If a family like the Fongs devoted more of their time to local community, far away from the political capital, marriages were naturally arranged with local gentry.