Posted on 07/30/2012 10:23:50 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Chinas 'leftover women are considered on the shelf if they're still single at 28.
In case you hadnt noticed, Chinese women have become quite a force to be reckoned with in recent years. According to Forbes magazine, 11 of the 20 richest self-made women in the world are Chinese, and now 19 per cent of Chinese women in management positions are CEOs, the second highest percentage worldwide (after Thailands 30 per cent).
In fact, so undeniable is the rise of women in China that there is even a phrase for their sudden blossoming: yin sheng, yang shuai, which means the female (yin) is on the up, while the male (yang) is on the way down. But theres one thing thats holding them back and even making them ditch their careers altogether and thats the fear of being single.
Unfortunately for Chinas women their new-found confidence has incited a backlash from men, the government and even their own families. The popular Chinese label shengnu (leftover women), regularly perpetuated in state-controlled media and on internet message boards, refers to women who are smart, successful and moneyed but still not married by the age of 28.
Thats right: in China, if you're 30, female and single, youre considered well and truly on the shelf.
'I always dread Chinese New Year, says Yang Ziyang, a 32-year-old talent agent earning in excess of one million RMB (£100,000) a year, 'because thats when my extended family come over to the house and they all want to know why Im not married yet. I tell them its because I have standards that Im not willing to lower.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
At 100,000 pounds per year you are going to have to convince me a little more ..........
“Ironically there is a shortage of women to men in China. They must be importing poor young women in droves(from the Southern countries Vietnam, etc) How about North Korean women? Sounds unstable.
I met a woman from China here when she was 39 or 40 and she told me the same thing. She is(was) an old lady back there.”
Makes perfect sense to me. If the women are only children - and single, they’ve had their whole life (up until 30), where they’ve been waited hand on foot. Why shouldn’t they wait?
Women will never marry down - ever.
Given how badly their population skews male after decades of the One Child Policy, I’m afraid any single Chinese lady over 28 isn’t exactly....err.....let’s say, the pick of the litter.
I mean, go figure. The one-child policy is said to have caused a generational massacre of girl babies in China, resulting in what wags call the hundred-million-strong Chinese Peoples’ Bachelor Army made up of expendable spouseless men.
But on the other hand, unmarried women in their late twenties, belonging to a race where female youthfulness often lasts well into middle age, are considered past their shelf life and can’t find husbands?
I thought Chinese women would be in a buyers’ market. Even the educated, accomplished, ambitious ones. Supply & demand and all that.
Oh, well......
I don't think it will go back...women may complain about working but they love the independence and not having to rely on a man as it was in the past. They love the financial independence of being able to dump/divorce a guy and move on.
Pretty much..I have never personally seen a woman marry down...not to say it has never happened.
Ellie Mae Clampet was considered an “old maid” by Granny because she was... 16? and not married.
Yep, and then they wonder why they are still 30 and single. Met too many women like that. They were so busy breezing by me when I was younger and now I get called up after they get dumped by the dude they were chasing.
There are some wonderful women out there - but I wouldn’t date any of my peers. They are terrible. The good ones got married and stayed married. I’ve had more lucky with older ladies.
Translation: she will stay single. If she hasn't found somebody who 'meets her standards' by 32, what makes her think that she ever will? If she's holding out for the Chinese equivalent of Prince Charming, she needs to notice that Prince Charming is looking over the 20-somethings.
No matter how many men may want to marry them, there will always be women who think they deserve somebody better than any of them men who have any interest in her. In the past, the role of parents was to provide a "reality adjustment" to their children.
“they love the independence and not having to rely on a man as it was in the past. They love the financial independence of being able to dump/divorce a guy and move on.”
Well, that’s not going to last. We can keep kicking the can down the road - but with the market the way it is now - all the money flowing into these particular jobs is going to dry up.
The women are doing better - in government jobs and positions that are all perched on the same pyramid of producers. With the present job climate screwing over the young men, that just narrows the producers further and further, which leads to increased borrowing to try to pay for everything.
That’s one very well-written post, rarestia.
Chinese Cougars will rule a nation...
I don’t want to be Chinese. I don’t want to be a Woman (of any ethinticity). I sure wouldn’t mind being a little over 28 though. So the author is only a 3rd correct in his title.
ping for later
The Chinese government has taken one of the most BACKWARDS COUNTRIES in the WORLD and put them on a path to become the largest economic power in the world by 2020 (if not sooner).
They are BRILLIANT. Yet they don’t seem to have A CLUE about feminism and giving women the freedom to be bitchy and not have a husband or kids - and now they are paying the price for that mistake.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.