China update: government plays matchmaker and SpaceX satellites’ close encounters with Tiangong space station in week’s top stories

Name: China tackles challenges posed by its ageing population
Uploaded: 2021-12-31T00:45:12.000Z
Duration: 7 min 2 s
Description: China tackles challenges posed by its ageing population

On eve of 2022, US is criticised over space and Olympic boycott, and Xian remains in full lockdown, battling China’s biggest Covid-19 outbreak of the past year

Hong Kong’s Stand News is closed after police raid, while prosecutors elsewhere in China could soon be charging people with crimes using AI

2-MIN READ2-MIN

China complained to the UN after its space station Tiangong had two close encounters with Starlink satellites. Photo: Getty Images

Jack Lau

Published: 8:45am, 31 Dec 2021

Good morning and thanks for reading our last China update of 2021.

I’m Jack Lau, a China reporter with the South China Morning Post. I focus mainly on politics, policy and diplomacy, and you can reach me on Twitter @lauycjack.

A story that caught my eye this week was a small city in northern China building a database of single young people to help them find partners.

Luanzhou issued forms to its singletons requesting their personal details, including financial situation and family background. They are holding a “Sweet New Year’s Eve” dating event and have set up matchmaking corners in parks and a zoo.

07:02

China tackles challenges posed by its ageing population

It’s hardly surprising they are desperate for people to date and potentially have families: the number of marriages in China has fallen for seven straight years, and a Chinese study has said the population could halve in the next 45 years.