China's Single Women – a Rising Social Group

By LIU FANGNIAN

Title: Single in the City – A Survey of China's Single Women

Author: Wu Shuping

196 pages, paperback

RMB 70

Published by Foreign Languages Press in July 2012

CHINA'S skyrocketing economic development has wrought radical social changes. Many are apparent in the appearance of new slang terms, such as weibo (China's twitter-like microblog), zhainan (stay-at-home men) and woju (poky dwellings), which reflect both developments in science and technology and changes in public mentality and social ideology. Among the latter, shengnü, referring to single women of beyond the average marriageable age, is becoming more frequently heard. In Chinese, sheng means "leftover, remnant." The literal meaning of this term – leftover women – is hence overtly demeaning.

In ancient China, a woman's life depended on finding a husband, because marriage was her sole means of economic survival. It was common at that time for women to marry in their mid-teens.

The 21st century, when Chinese women attained unprecedented social status and economic independence, saw a dramatic change. Women began to see the meaning and value of life beyond marriage. Being single, for years or even a couple of decades longer than their peers, has become more common. Some make a conscious decision not to marry. For others, their single status is due to circumstances. For whatever reason, single women constitute a rising group throughout China's social spectrum. The term shengnü, however, implies sustained social disapprobation of unmarried women.

The book Single in the City: A Survey of China's Single Women presents a record of the lives and emotional experiences of a representative group of unmarried women in contemporary Chinese society. It consists of interviews with 20 single female residents of China's major cities that explain their reasons for remaining unmarried. Some are good-looking, well-educated and command sizable incomes. Others are less socially and materially endowed. Emotional trauma after love affairs that have come to nothing have caused some to shy away from permanent relationships. A refusal to compromise on the qualities they expect in a life partner is the reason others choose to be single. There are women who insist on a union based on pure emotion, and also those who put material wealth above all else. The different experiences and varying approaches to emotional life the book sets down reflect the status quo of this particular sector of contemporary Chinese women. It also underlines the social problems such women face in China's rapidly changing society.

The author Wu Shuping is a well-known writer and psychological expert. He is also a chief editor of the Phoenix Life program on Phoenix TV. Wu began carrying out research for his book on single women six years ago. He has maintained contact with each of the 20 women the book covers. On finishing his work he wrote: "The ages given are those at the time of the interviews, so the women in my book are now one to six years older than at the time I met them. As far as I know they are still unmarried. It seems that finding Mr. Right and tying the knot is no easy task."

In contemporary societies the marital problems that women face are in some sense universal. Those confronting Chinese women are particularly acute, as the nation is living through a dazzling transition that encompasses its economy, social structure and values. Women are under greater life-work pressure amid rapid economic growth and urbanization. They are torn between traditional expectations of commitment to their families as wives and mothers and newfound aspirations to achieve professional success and economic and emotional independence.

"The book's case histories feature single women with striking personalities who transcend the stereotypical and pejorative 'spinster' image and constitute more than a mere statistic. We owe much to Wu Shuping for writing such an amazing book about contemporary Chinese women. From it, we can ascertain the status quo of Chinese women, as regards their emotional lives, family and career, and understand the challenges and problems they face," is the comment of well known authoress and media commentator Hong Huang on Wu's book.

Single in the City – A Survey of China's Single Women is one of the Foreign Languages Press's upcoming "Recording China" series. The other two, focusing respectively on migrant workers and antizans (young college graduates whose low-paid jobs compel large groups of them to share accommodation in big city suburbs) is due out soon. The series aims to present to international readers the authentic scenarios of different Chinese social groups in documentary style. The stories give international readers a valid impression of China and show that, for the large part, Chinese people are no different from what they are.

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Liu Fangnian is an editor at the Foreign Languages Press.