Lastwomanstanding

As Chinese youth’s attitude toward marriage changes, being single is no longer a curse

I also wish to have a happy marriage and a lovely baby. But I need to wait … wait until the right person comes along. For now, I enjoy my life as a single. It’s not bad.

“So, do you have a boyfriend?”

Guo Yue heard this question countless times from parents and relatives during the Mid-autumn Festival, a Chinese traditional holiday for family reunion, which fell on September 15 this year. Although the 29-year-old young woman was looking forward to spending time home with her family, her holiday was nearly ruined by what she sees as an intrusion into her private life.

A state-owned bank employee in Beijing, Guo earns a decent salary and is enjoying a successful career as a young professional. However, what Guo’s parents are most concerned about is her marriage. They are afraid that if she does not get married soon, she will be “left behind.”

Guo’s situation is nothing exceptional in China, especially in bigger cities. According to the Chinese traditional concept of family, if a woman does not get married before 30, she will be devalued and regarded as a “Sheng Nu,” a derogatory expression which literally means “leftover woman.”

Generally, Sheng Nu refers to women in their late 20s or early 30s who are still single. Most often than not, they have a higher than average education level and income, and tend to focus on their career. According to statistics of Singapore-based The Straits Times, the number of “leftover women” in Beijing has exceeded 800,000.

The “leftover women” phenomenon reflects Chinese youth’s changing attitude toward marriage. In the past, it was widely held that marriage was one’s life major event, the beginning of what many believed to be real happiness. However, this is not entirely the case anymore. According to an online survey of 50,000 individuals in 2016, conducted by Tecent, China’s largest Internet provider, 36.8 percent of female respondents said marriage is no longer a rigid requirement for them, and they could still lead a happy life without tying the knot. blew out her 25th birthday cake’s candles. Every year, her birthday was like a ticking alarm clock reminding her that time is running out.

“I feel like time is chasing me. Each year I get older, I become more stressed,” Guo told Chinafrica, “Gradually, I realized that most of my male friends of my age are already married. The men still single are much younger than me, so it is really difficult for me to find a suitable partner.”

For Guo, what matters most in marriage is love. She wants to find a man for whom she has genuine feelings. “Marriage must be based on true love. My husband should be my soul mate. This is a bit of a high requirement,” she said.

Shao Jie, a 32-year-old sales manager, is mostly concerned about her future spouse’s financial situation. The young professional lives and works in Beijing, where she enjoys a much-higher-thanaverage salary. “Marriage is different from dating. Marriage depends on realistic conditions. If there is a large income gap between my husband and me, we won’t have similar consumption habits. I won’t accept a man in a worse financial situation than me,” she told Chinafrica. “If it comes to that, I’d prefer to remain single.”