TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Following a Hunan Province policy seeking to encourage young women to “stay in the countryside to serve unmarried men,” controversies surrounding the “difficulties” Chinese men face in finding a spouse have been further fueled by “official research” that calls expensive weddings a major problem.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics research showed that young men from farming communities face difficulties marrying because of high wedding costs, and the women have little interest in childbearing, according to Yicai. The article’s subhead reads, “Wedding expenses are mainly born by the groom’s family, and usually equals 10 years’ worth of a family’s rigorous savings.”
Yicai cites the report as saying a poor economic foundation, lack of stable income, and generally bad economic conditions are the top reasons that contribute to these men's problems in finding a bride.
The report also blames “sky-high bride prices” as an unbearable burden for farmers, averaging over 300,000 Chinese yuan (US$46,492.89) per wedding. Traditionally, bride price is money or property that a groom or his family has to gift the bride or her family.
According to the report, in a typical rural-town wedding, the groom is responsible for buying a house, car, and jewelry, preparing the money gift, as well as arranging for the wedding banquet.
Yicai quoted population expert Dong Yuzheng (董玉整) as saying that being too materialistic is a big problem, and some people “would rather cry in a BMW than laugh on a bicycle.” Dong said some people put price tags on a person’s education, height, and looks — and those who cannot afford such prices cannot even think about marriage.
On Weibo (China’s Twitter equivalent), a user named “Solemnly Swear to Do No Good” (庄严宣誓不干好事) said the entire report seems to blame women. “There are many girls in the underworld, go marry them,” the user said.
Another user named “Broken Ninety-Three” (碎碎九十三) said, “This type of hype-making makes it seem like women bear all the responsibility, and the fact that the government butts in on this repeatedly makes men in this world increasingly like giant babies. Everything else is other people’s fault, I am never wrong, and if I can’t marry a girl, the country needs to assign me a wife.”
“Petite Yuanzi” (Petite緣子) wrote about a female acquaintance who graduated from Tsinghua University’s master’s program, and had to lie about her education level for a blind date — only until after she was married did she dare reveal her true education level. “Is having a master’s degree from Tsinghua shameful?” Petite Yuanzi asked.
Other users were angered by Yicai article’s title, “Official research on the ‘difficulty in marrying’ of mature men in farm villages.” They compared the term “mature men” to the widely used and derogatory term “leftover women,” which refers to single women above the age of 30.
Weibo user JoannaBlue commented, “When women are highly educated, have a good status, are intellectually and financially independent, and not married, they’re called ‘leftover women’ while female PhDs are called ‘leftover fighters,’ and these men at the bottom of the social hierarchy who cannot afford marriage are called ‘mature men'?”
Some netizens mocked the report for missing the point. “There are still so many people that don’t understand, it’s not that women want the bride price, they don’t want you,” Caludialuver wrote.
“I’d rather laugh in my own BMW than cry on an old leftover man’s bicycle,” said “Shanguang Zelia” (山光Zelia).
