(Beijing) At 30, Zhang Shaoge cannot find a wife, despite all the suitors presented to him by his friends. So, this Chinese relies on the meetings organized by a surprising matchmaker: the Communist Party.
Posted at 10:08 a.m.
Birth rate at half mast, marriage that is no longer popular, loneliness… China is worried about a threatening development for society and economic activity.
This is where the Communist Youth League comes in, which, thanks to its vast network, tries to play Cupid.
“At my age, it’s time to find a girl and get married,” says Zhang Shaoge, who comes to one of these meetings organized in Jinan, the capital of Shandong province, in eastern China. China.
“I haven’t found a shoe for me in my surroundings and I want to expand my circle of friends,” he says.
Marriage has lost popularity in China. In 2020, only 8.14 million couples got married, compared to 13.47 million in 2013.
Consequence on the birth rate: it also fell last year, to 7.52 births per 1,000 inhabitants – the lowest since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949.
“harassed”
Another more worrying observation is that the number of men is 10 million higher than that of women.
A phenomenon attributed to the one-child policy and the preference of couples, especially rural ones, for boys. Two elements that have led to selective abortions of female fetuses.
The gender imbalance was particularly marked between 1980 and 2016 (when the government started allowing all couples to have two children).
“I don’t have the opportunity to meet many women through my work,” explains Zhang Shaoge, purchasing manager in a company. He says he is under increasing pressure from those around him to get married.
He is not the only one: in all, a hundred single people participate in the event organized in Jinan by the League, an offshoot of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in power.
In a park, an animator warms up the participants and introduces them, against a background of pop music, to the team games they will play to break the ice.
In order to better know the singles of the opposite sex, the profiles of each (age, work, income) are written on cards hung on the trees.
“I feel more secure” in this kind of official event, explains Li Changle, a 25-year-old engineer.
“There are a lot of dating sites, but sometimes, as soon as you enter your information, you are harassed with phone calls”.
“Social Stability”
Another participant, Xu Feng, 40, registered because his family “urges” him to get married. “The older I get, the greater the pressure,” he says.
In the province of Anhui, in the east of the country, the League has launched an application for smart phones. Users can consult the information of other singles: name, height, employer or income.
“If you like someone, you can add them as a friend,” said Li Heng, a representative of the League.
Thanks to its extensive network throughout China, the organization can reach employees of a large number of companies.
The Communist Youth League has for several years been organizing dating courses at universities or dating for singles.
“The state is not only worried about the birth rate,” said Leta Hong Fincher, an American feminist who has written books on Chinese women.
Power also pushes for women to join the “institution” of marriage, because it is “a vector of social stability”, she judges.
China has allowed all couples to have three children since 2021.
But births have not gone up again and the imbalance between the sexes is such that some men will never find a soul mate.
Gifts
“In some places, the ratio is 10 men to one woman,” says Quan Baoyong, a matchmaker from Henan Province in central China.
“If I was still in my twenties […]I wouldn’t even try to find a wife,” explains Zhao Liang, a 35-year-old delivery man, who finds the search for a partner “very materialistic” in today’s society.
The authorities are also trying to tackle “unhealthy marriage customs” such as the “gifts” generally offered in the countryside by the groom’s family.
They can reach 160,000 yuan ($32,000) in some villages in Henan, where gender imbalance is pushing families to bid higher, according to matchmakers.
In an attempt to change habits, local authorities have capped these amounts at 66,000 yuan.
Families “want you to at least have a house and a car […] That’s 500,000 to 600,000 yuan ($100,000 to $120,000),” says Zhao Liang.
“For a rural family, it’s not easy.”
Sometimes the insistence of the authorities can backfire.
Such was the case last year when a rural county suggested young women stay put and marry local men.
After an outcry on social networks, local leaders had to explain that the operation, dubbed “a warm bed”, did not intend to force anyone to stay in the country.