Proposal to matchmake China’s ‘leftover’ urban women with unmarried rural men sparks anger
- The proposal from a senior think tank official to solve China’s growing gender imbalance quickly attracted criticism on social media
- China’s sex ratio at birth is one of the world’s most unbalanced, at 114 males to every 100 females, leading to around 30 million more men than women
An expert’s proposal to solve the looming social crisis caused by China’s gender imbalance by matchmaking urban “leftover” women with rural unmarried men has sparked controversy.
Wu Xiuming, deputy secretary-general of the Shanxi Think Tank Development Association, a non-governmental organisation in central China that specialises in social development research, has called for authorities to urgently address a rise in the number of unmarried people by encouraging the migration of urban single women to rural areas, where millions of unmarried men are looking for brides.
He urged women not to “feel afraid to go and live in rural villages”.
In China, sheng nu, or “leftover women”, is a term used to describe unmarried – although usually highly educated and urban – women over the age of 27.
It’s impossible for me to date a rural man. It won’t happen even if there are no other men in this world