Chinese young people have more options on marriage, love

Chinese young people today have greater freedom to make their life decisions on romance and marriages and they expect more from their relationships and marriages than people did in the past.

Some say the pursuit of personal freedom and independence, and the high cost of raising children, are behind the decreasing willingness to get married.

"I don’t think being in a romantic relationship or getting married is something we must do. It depends on personal choice. I think today’s young people are more individualistic compared with older generations. We focus on our own feelings, and we want our relationship to cater to our emotional needs. Older generations tended to do the same thing as everyone else because there were fewer options. But now we see different life choices, so we have more options," Liu Yang, a Beijing resident.

"I feel like, the person you like also liking you is a miracle. And being in love is sacred. But nowadays, many people just get in a relationship only because they want to be in a relationship, not because of love. In terms of having children, I believe for many, having a child means a lot of pressure.

Everyone wants to provide the best for his child, wants the child to receive a good education, but it’s very expensive," said Mr. Jiang, another Beijing resident.

"Many people are in a relationship to release some pressure. As for marriage, I know people who enter a well-matched marriage. I also know people who keep waiting for true love," said Wang Zhenfei, a young man.

According to a report released by Tsinghua University's Evergrande Research Institute last year, fewer young people in China are willing to get married, and the country has seen a continuous sharp drop in the marriage rate and increase in the divorce rate in the past eight years.

From 2013 to 2020, the number of marriage registrations fell from a record high of 13.47 million couples to 8.13 million, the survey showed.