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English|Chinese Gen Z No Longer Trust Matchmaking, Here’s Why( 三 )


The show mainly targets viewers born in the 1980s and before. This clearly shows that people who were born in the 1990s and after are less interested in matchmaking tradition.
Influenced by traditional Chinese value on marriage, matchmaking sites like Shijijiayuan and matchmaking dating shows like If You Are the One enjoy a massive market in China. “Leftover women”, a derogatory term used in China to describe women who remain unmarried in their late twenties and beyond, reflects a deeply rooted cultural norm that tells women that they must get married.
Young people in China are pushing back traditional thinking on marriage as the awareness of gender equality increases in society. Young people nowadays pay more attention to their own feelings and happiness instead of conforming to traditions and get married when “it is time for getting married.” The increasing costs associated with marriage also push people farther away from considering marriage. The rise of “lying flat” culture and increasing popularity of nihilist thinking have also made marriage a less desirable path.
Chinese people are unwilling to get married or tend to marry late as a result.
In 2005, 47% of the 20~24 years old age group were married. In 2020, the number had slumped drastically to 18.6%. People aged between 25 and 29 years old accounted 34.9% of the married population in 2020.
The number of married couples has been decreasing over years in China. According to statistics from the 2021 China Statistical Yearbook, around 8.14 million couples received their marriage certificates in 2020, a sharp decline from 2013’s 13.46 million, lowest since 2003.
Ma Jie, who was using a pseudonym for privacy reasons, said that her families back home often pressure her to look for a boyfriend. Ma was born in 1995 and currently lives in Shanghai. During the Spring Festival in 2020, she downloaded dating app Soul and started using it for a while. But she eventually deleted Soul from her phone because the “love alert” function on Soul would often make her feel panicked. From Ma’s view, marriage is not something people can rush. “Going to work and taking care of my cat are already tiring enough. I don’t want to create more trouble for myself by worrying about getting married,” Ma said. “The most important to thing to prioritize is your own pleasure.” When asked about matchmaking sites like Shijijiayuan and Zhenai, Ma simply stated that such sites are not well-known among her peers.
The rising awareness of gender equality has inspired Chinese women to really think about the value of marriage. In the past, it was common to see people using derogatory terms such as “dinosaur” (ugly woman) and “leftover woman” to describe women. Shijijiayuan’s founder Gong Haiyan called herself “Little Dragon Lady” because she was also once called a “dinosaur” by netizens. Today, we can see derogatory terms that describe men are becoming popular. “Ordinary but overly confident men”, which is a term to describe men who think they are some kind of hot shot but are losers in reality, has become extremely popular on Chinese social media. Such changes came from the cracks of the patriarchy system in Chinese society. Women are starting to have their voice on social media.
【English|Chinese Gen Z No Longer Trust Matchmaking, Here’s Why】The changes of Chinese women’s value system can also be reflected by their stance on recent social issues.
The controversial divorce drama between famous singer Wang Leehom and Lee Jinglei sparked heated discussion online as Chinese women voiced out their opinions on child-rearing, marriage and stay-at-home mom etc. Coco, who kept track of the incident, said that the important takeaway from Wang and Lee’s drama would be women should maintain their independence in their marriage instead of sacrificing for their marriage.

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