Chinese unmarried resisting parental pressure

Beijing -- For many Chinese parents, urging their adult sons or daughters to get married as soon as possible is their top mission.

About 80 percent of Chinese singles hope their parents stop pressing them into marriage, according to a report released by Baihejiayuan, an Internet date arranging company that has 310 million users registering on its website.

More than half of the interviewees believe that they should decide about when they marry on their own, the report said, adding that about 30 percent of them said they are under huge pressure from their parents.

The national marriage rate has been declining year on year from 9.9 per thousand in 2013 to 7.2 per thousand in 2019, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

About 77 percent of male interviewees and 63 percent of female interviewees said their parents had arranged blind dates for them, and 14 percent of male interviewees and nine percent of female interviewees had been arranged more than 10 blind dates, according to the report.

About 40 percent of Chinese singles hope their parents would stop interfering in their marital status and want to get married naturally without being arranged, the report also noted.

"Marriage is no longer a necessary part in life," said Gao Fei, an associate professor at a psychological research and counseling center of Southwest Jiaotong University. "It's a personal choice whether to get married or not, and everyone can choose a lifestyle that makes him or her happy."

"Although Chinese young people understand that their parents press them for marriage for good intentions, many of them insist quality of marriage is more important than the pressure from parents," said Wu Linguang, general manager of the company.

"My parents urge me to get married because they hope somebody can take care of me, and they do not want me to feel lonely after they pass away," said an interviewee in the report. "My parents regard looking after their grandsons or granddaughters as a kind of joy, which is why they are urging me for marriage," said another interviewee.

"I will get married when I meet my Mr. Right, not just because I am a certain age," said Fu Xuan, a 20-year-old resident in the city of Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province.