‘High-quality singlehood better than low-quality marriage’: woman’s choice to stay single inspires many and renews debate on China’s marriage obsession
- A single woman in China trends online after denouncing the country’s culture of ‘marriage as young as possible at any cost’
- In mainland China, pressuring young people to get married, and in some cases, forcing them to, remains a dominant cultural norm
A single 36-year-old woman in China has trended online after declaring she enjoys being single and rejects “low-quality marriage” and restarted a discussion on cultural norms that push young Chinese men and women into marriage as soon as possible.
The unnamed woman, from Dalian in Liaoning, northeastern China, went viral after sharing her views online in a video. She said she lives alone and doesn’t want to push herself to get married just for the sake of it, Star Video reported.
The woman said that it would be hard to live a happy life if she married the wrong person just for the sake of being in a marriage. She said she’d rather live independently and happily and does not believe that “marriage is a guaranteed utopia or sanctuary”.
“Whether getting married or not, everyone has regrets, ” she said in the video.
She said that marriage was likely to offer a home and stability, but could come at the price of less freedom, while single people can keep their freedom without being entangled in a relationship.
“Most important of all, have fun in life,” she stressed.
The video showed off her relaxed lifestyle; wearing pyjamas around the house and cooking dishes of her choice for herself, and taking her time preparing her outfit and make-up for social outings.
