Over 100 Million Single Women In China, Where Are All the Men?

Over 100 million single women in China. Leftover women worry about marriage. In April this year, Hangzhou hosted a matchmaking event intended for a thousand participants. However, while hundreds of women attended, only a handful of men showed up. Some men were so taken aback by the low number of male attendees that they left immediately. The single women arrived dressed to impress, only to find very few men present. Why did this unusual scenario occur? It turns out that the organizers had set up the registration so that women could sign up for free, while men had to pay a fee ranging from 100 to 200 yuan, around 14 dollars to 28 US dollars. The rationale behind this decision is unclear. Typically, many matchmaking events in large cities allow men free entry and charge women, due to the higher number of single women compared to men. Even at events where men attend for free, their turnout tends to be low, let alone when a fee is charged. This event reflects a broader societal issue in China, where women who are well-educated and high-earning yet remain unmarried past the age of 27 are often labeled as leftover women. This label highlights societal expectations for women to marry young, regardless of their professional achievements. Women who pursue higher education and graduate from programs such as PhDs around the age of 28, or even those with a master's degree who remain unmarried a few years after graduation, can face this stigmatizing label. This situation creates a challenging landscape for older women in the marriage market, particularly as men in their 30s often prefer younger partners, leaving older women with fewer options. The phenomenon is widespread across major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, where the number of single older women is nearing or has exceeded 800,000 and continues to rise. Several factors contribute to this trend. In more expensive cities, men who have not achieved financial stability may feel pressured to return to their hometowns, where marrying and settling down is more feasible. Meanwhile, successful men in these cities, who may earn salaries ranging from 40,000 to 50,000 yuan, 5,600 dollars to 7,000 US dollars, and own significant assets, usually do not consider settling down until after the age of 35. They often prioritize younger, more attractive partners, which exacerbates the difficulty for accomplished older women to find suitable matches. This challenging environment has left many older women with high standards for partners, believing they deserve someone exceptional. However, their unwillingness to compromise on these standards often leads them to dismiss potential matches over minor issues, thereby perpetuating their status as leftover women. Misley from Nanning exemplifies this situation. Despite being an attractive, financially independent businesswoman from a wealthy family, she remains unmarried at nearly 40. She dated several attractive men in her younger years but was not ready to settle down then. Despite acknowledging that she is not as young as she once was, she remains firm in her preference for handsome partners. Her ongoing search involves numerous blind dates, over 10 in the last six months alone, yet she continues to look for Mr. Right. This sentiment is echoed by an older woman who, in a video posted by Strange News Encyclopedia on the platform X on August 9, declared herself a high-quality leftover woman with significant financial assets, up to 3 million yuan in savings, nearly 419,352 U.S. dollars. She stated her preference for men in their 20s or 50s to avoid the competition and the pretentiousness and pickiness found in men in their 30s and 40s. Amid China's economic downturn, the reluctance to marry is prevalent among singles. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that there are nearly 240 million single people in China, with over 100 million being women. Xiao Zhang, a 30-year-old netizen, expressed her anxieties about being unmarried in a Douyin video, highlighting societal pressures and her desire to find a genuine connection. Society often portrays older unmarried women as facing However, Xienya, now 41 and single without children, embraces a different perspective, believing that being single can be as fulfilling as being married. She is open to marriage but is waiting for the right person to avoid a union without love. Similarly, Jingyan, a 47-year-old from Suzhou, who has been labeled a leftover woman for nearly two decades, urges other women Meanwhile, Wenjing, an employee at a large internet company, encountered frustrations with online matchmaking. After paying to send her resume to a male doctor on a matchmaking platform, she was disappointed when he did not even view her profile, leading her to become disillusioned with the process. This experience highlights the contrast between the relatively affordable nature of online matchmaking and the expensive, often prohibitive costs of high-end, one-on-one services, such as the one Lin Yi engaged with. Lin Yi, under pressure to find a partner, paid nearly US$2,000 for a service that finally led to a successful match on her second meeting, a story she shared widely on Chinese platform Xiahangshu. desolate, gloomy, and sad, no longer showing the vitality of some of China's most magnificent cities. A large number of young people who are unemployed or without regular jobs are forced to sleep under bridges and struggle to survive because they have no money to pay rent. Videos show that a large number of unemployed young people are living under bridge tunnels in Guangdong. They have no fixed jobs and no money to pay rent. Sometimes they also live stream, dreaming that one day they can live a prosperous life. But most of the time, they can only survive by picking up rags. Under the square of Longhua bus station in Shenzhen, a large number of unemployed young people gather there every day and sleep in the open air. If outsiders come to take pictures, they are driven away or even beaten. In a park in Guangdong, several unemployed young people live in the park and sleep on park benches. However, several police officers drove them away and refused to allow them to live there. The young people's clothes are still hanging on the trees in the park. In Huizhou, Guangdong, a 20-year-old man who couldn't find a job spent the night sitting on an overpass. Some kind-hearted passers-by offered him a room to sleep in, but he refused. A netizen photographed a group of delivery boys sleeping on the streets at six o'clock in the morning under a bridge in Guangzhou. Some of them were sleeping on the ground, and some were setting up tents. It made people lament their hard life in big cities. One netizen said that she and her husband have been working in Shenzhen for 24 years. They got married and had children there. Recently, they both lost their jobs. Many relatives and friends persuaded them to go back to their hometown. She said in a video, we don't even have a place to stay when we go back now because the house in our hometown has been uninhabited for many years, and there is no room for us to live there. You want to farm, but there is no land to farm. You want to do business, but there is no capital. Another netizen said that she has been working in Shenzhen for nearly 10 years, but still has nothing, no car, no house. She said in a video, I have been unemployed for six months. I will be 30 years old next month. Now I have no savings, no car, and no house. I came to Shenzhen in 2014. I was young and found a relatively easy clerical job, and then I worked until October last year. During this period, I changed companies, but I was always doing clerical work until I lost my job last year and couldn't find another one. It has been six months since October 9th last year. So for a girl like me who has no education and no skills, where is the way out? In Dongguan, Guangdong, where China's processing industry is well-developed due to serious lack of orders and insufficient working hours, many companies no longer recruit formal employees, but instead use temporary workers so that they do not have to pay five insurances and one fund for employees. The salary is even as low as 9 yuan per hour, while the minimum wage stipulated by Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and other provinces is 22 yuan per hour. A video circulating online shows a group of young people from Guizhou queuing up for a job in Dongguan. An agent shouted to the people in line, 9 yuan an hour, and the onlookers looked at him sideways. 9 yuan? 9 yuan an hour. If you can't accept it, take your luggage and leave. Jingjing, 29, has been unemployed for six months. She posted a video on Douyin saying that she felt like her life was over. She said in the video, My life seems to be over. I have been unemployed for six months, and I seem to have lost myself. My body is becoming weaker and weaker. I just want to lie in bed and play with my phone or games every day. I have no interest in anything, and I am becoming less and less willing to go out. I don't know when the girl who loved to laugh and dress up disappeared. Now there is no light in my eyes. I haven't opened the cosmetics on this table for a long time. I don't know when I last put on makeup. The closet is full of beautiful clothes, but I don't seem to have the opportunity to wear them out. I am becoming more and more confused, anxious, and panicked. I don't know where my life should go. Last year, a college graduate in Hunan posted a video crying because she couldn't find a job after interviewing at more than 50 companies. She also mentioned that although her best friend found a job in Beijing, she was not working but playing with her life. She said in the video, I have interviewed at more than 50 companies since graduation. Some companies don't even pay any salary during the internship period, and you can't even be converted to a regular employee. My college best friend joined a famous film and television company in Beijing with a salary of 7,500 yuan. You may think that for a freshly graduated student, it is enough. But she rented a small house in Beijing that was only a dozen square meters, and the rent was more than 2,000 yuan. Dongguan is in decline. Shops are closing down in rows, and internal competition is serious. Dongguan is an important prefecture-level city in Guangdong Province and plays a key role in the economy of both Guangdong and China. However, as China's economy continues to weaken, internal competition in Dongguan has become so intense that technicians lament how difficult it is to make money. Chang'an Town in Dongguan, once filled with factories, now sees rows of shops closing down, and merchants are struggling. Inside and outside the industrial park in Gaobu Town, Dongguan, people are rarely seen. Chongqing technicians. Guangdong is too competitive, and they can't stay in Dongguan for a week. Dongguan is a world-renowned manufacturing center, especially famous for industries like electronics, footwear, and furniture. It was once called the world's factory, attracting significant foreign and domestic investment. But how is Dongguan today? Blogger Xiaoxin from Chongqing said on October 23rd that he and his came to Dongguan a week ago, but within that week, he realized they couldn't stay in Guangdong anymore. They packed their luggage that day and returned to Chongqing at night. He said, The biggest feeling I had when I came to Guangdong this time was that it was too hard to make money. I visited Dongguan and found it was extremely difficult and competitive. I found that not only were we facing technical competition, but many processing companies were not making any profit, and other industries were also fiercely competitive. This morning, 23rd, when I went out for breakfast, I saw a roadside barber shop charging only 10 yuan RMB for a haircut. The owner had to pay rent and labor. How could they make any money? He sighed. After all the twists and turns, I was the one who suffered the most, and nobody made any money. Businesses in important towns in Dongguan have been ruined. Guangdong Dongguan blogger Jun Bao filmed a video in Chang'an Town, one of the most important towns in Dongguan, to document its current decline. He said the shops in Chang'an Town were once very popular and in high demand. There were factories everywhere, at least hundreds, and rental housing nearby. Chang'an Town's GDP used to rank first in Dongguan City, and its geographical location was relatively advantageous. However, now look at the shops in Chang'an Town. Rows and rows of shops have closed down. Almost all the clothing shops have shut their doors. There used to be a big stage in the town that was lively every night, with people dancing. Now it's so desolate, it's become a parking lot. It's so hard to do business now. There used to be a row of milk tea shops in the town, and every weekend there was a large flow of people. Over the past two years, businesses have been ruined. The shops are all closed, and no one cares. Dongguan is really in a pitiful state. Jun Bao said that only a few shops are still open, and it's estimated that the rent, water, and electricity bills aren't even covered for a day. They're definitely losing money every day. He visited a street in Chang'an Town, capturing many people with his camera. He said, they're all unemployed just sitting and playing with their mobile phones. The shops on the street are deserted, and no one is going in to shop. It's really miserable. All fast food restaurants in Dongguan can't hold on. The blogger San Pao Life Record, who works in Dongguan, recently said that all fast food restaurants in Dongguan have closed down. He said, we workers don't go to fast food restaurants anymore. Fast food restaurants are basically all closed down. Some shut down after just three or four months. The current situation shows that no one goes to fast food restaurants at all. The main reason is that the food is unhygienic, and our health is important. So fast food restaurants are basically struggling to survive. All fast food restaurants in Dongguan have closed down. Workers. There are basically no people in the industrial park. Dongguan blogger Lao Chen said that he worked as a temporary worker in a factory in Gaobu Town, Dongguan, for a period of time last year. This year, there are fewer workers in the factory, and there are basically no people. Both inside and outside the industrial park in Gaobu Town, it's deserted. He said that last year, many people were still going to and from work in the industrial park, and there were also many eating supper. There used to be densely packed stalls outside the industrial park. Now, only two or three people set up stalls, and there is no business. Everywhere is empty, and the streets outside the industrial park are dark, with no one to be seen.