Marriages in China are falling. And local governments promote their dating apps

In the first months of 2024, a drop of almost 10% compared to last year. The difficulties and new lifestyles of the one-child generation. Authorities worried about the consequences that the boom in singles could have on social stability. But alongside cities building new romantic parks, there are also ‘technological’ responses.

Milan (AsiaNews) - Many young Chinese people, over thirty, continue to enjoy their single life and postpone the fateful ‘yes’, heedless of being stigmatised as shengnü or shengnan (women or ‘leftover’ men) because of this. According to figures recently published by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People's Republic, there were 1.97 million registered marriages in China in the first quarter of the year, 178,000 fewer than last year.

Zhou Xiaopu, a lecturer at the School of Journalism and Communication at Beijing's People's University, attributes this decline to the socio-economic changes that have taken place in the country over the past forty years and the resulting change in the view of marriage and parenthood among young Chinese. Those born between the 1980s and 1990s are predominantly only children, used to putting themselves first, more aware of themselves and what they want from life. For them, procrastinating marriage or giving it up altogether is a choice linked first and foremost to their own well-being.

According to the researcher, the decision not to marry is also influenced by the lifestyle of an increasingly overworked generation, to the point of ‘barely being able to look after themselves’ and having little free time for socialising. Also contributing to their reluctance to take the plunge are the high real estate prices in urban centres, the cost of a wedding party, the cost of child support, and fierce competition in education. The uncertainty of the future and the economic straits in which many young people live in the post-Covid era would exacerbate a trend that was already underway.

Zhou's analysis is confirmed by the testimony of Huang Feiling, a 31-year-old lawyer from Ningde (Fujian), who told the Lianhe Zaobao newspaper that she is not anxious at all about becoming a wife and mother, preferring to wait for the right time and the right person without worrying about it. Moreover, Chinese women are much more independent than in the past and this explains the large following on Chinese social networks of ‘feminist’ bloggers, who like to share with their followers the joys and rewards of their lives as over 30-year-old singles.

However, the decline in marriages and births alarms the authorities because of the impact it could have on the country's stability. So much so that some local governments introduced experimental measures earlier this year to promote ‘low-cost’ wedding ceremonies. Authorities in Guixi County, Jiangxi Province, even launched a dating app to help find a soul mate and set up matchmaking agencies in all thirty-one villages in the territory. Meanwhile, in another Jiangxi locality, Yushui, an online course was scheduled to educate residents on topics such as marriage and family, and weekly public counselling services were set up for the same purpose.

Another widespread practice today is to organise large-scale speed dates, such as the one staged at the end of March in Changxing County, eastern Zhejiang Province. The event, promoted by some local political bodies, included three hours of games and various activities with the aim of getting to know the single girls and boys present. The town of Tongling, in Anhui, on the other hand, decided to create a space in a public garden to encourage romantic encounters, emulating those that have already existed for some time in the main metropolises of the People's Republic.

Such initiatives are appreciated by Chinese families, who are known to exert strong pressure on their heirs to start a family. The parents of single people themselves periodically meet in public parks in large cities to exchange information on the age, appearance, education, and work of their children, in the hope of finding the ideal partner for them. This is a typically Chinese phenomenon, known by the expression baifa xiangqin, which we could translate as ‘arranged meeting by [people with] white hair’, i.e. elderly parents.

It is especially around New Year, the most important Chinese holiday, that the insistence of family members becomes more pressing. Thus, rather than disappoint their expectations, some young Chinese today prefer to come home with ‘rented’ girlfriends, chosen through special online agencies. The cost for this kind of service usually varies between 500 yuan and 800 yuan (between 60 and 100 euros), depending on the region and the duration of the ‘performance’, plus travel expenses and any unforeseen events.

There are more than 200 million Chinese singles who have decided to look for their other half on dating sites and apps, such as TanTan, Jiayuan and Baihe, to name the most popular. According to statistics, the majority of Chinese users registered on these platforms are aged between 25 and 34 (42.9%) and between 35 and 44 (27%). The Chinese matchmaking business reached USD 1.18 billion in 2023 and could touch USD 1.26 billion in 2027, making it the largest matchmaking market worldwide.

For those who cannot settle for a real-life he or she, some Chinese hi-tech companies have come up with virtual partners. The Shanghai start-up MiniMax, for instance, has invented a free app called ‘Glow’, through which users can ‘generate’ their ideal boyfriend, according to requirements such as age, physical appearance, personality or hobbies, with the support of artificial intelligence.

Tufei, a 25-year-old employee, is one of the millions of Chinese users of this service. Interviewed by AFP, she revealed that her ‘virtual friend’ has everything she looks for in a partner: he is kind, empathetic and supports her in times of difficulty; what's more, she adds, ‘he knows how to talk to women better than a real man’. It is then impossible for friction to arise: the artificial intelligence gradually adapts to the user's personality, remembering what he said and adjusting his speech accordingly.