Dating in China: A booming business

According to a feature in a local newspaper, China’s dating market continues to expand rapidly, with 600 million people registered with matchmaking services (such as dating websites) in 2016, a ten-fold increase since 2011.

Some say that the sharp increase in single people is changing China’s family-centered society. However, it seems that, ahead of the Lunar New Year that was on January 27 this year, many single people appear to have had second thoughts.

 

Changes over the last five years

The speed of change over the last five years has been tremendous. Data analysis shows a 2.47 percentage point increase between 2010 and 2015 in the proportion of women aged 30 and over who are unmarried. It is thought that the number of single people in China has risen above 200 million. According to a survey carried out in Qingdao CIty, Shandong, 62% of single men and 65% of single women in the city have frequently experienced pressure from their parents and friends to hurry up and get married.

However, men and women experience different kinds of pressure. This difference is reflected in the relative numbers of registrations on dating services. The male to female ratio of one dating website is 2:8, meaning that only two in every 10 members are men. Generally, there are four men to every six women. Also, above the age of 30, the number of female members increases sharply, while the number of male members increases only slightly.

In 2016, the number of people registered on the top three matchmaking services – or dating websites – in China were 198 million, 140 million, and 90 million. The total for all sites is 600 million, with sales of CNY3 billion. These figures are 10 and five times their respective figures in 2010 of 6 million registered users and CNY600 million in sales. However, these figures also included people who were over 60 of age and were seeking to remarry.

 

Lunar New Year: the peak season for dating sites

Source: Shutterstock

Dating websites are in constant competition. For example, the major point of access for customers is changing from the PC to the smartphone. The influence of social networks is increasing, and there is a flow of customers toward social network dating services. Intensifying competition, of course, increases the need for major sites to advertise.

Ms. K, a single woman living in Shandong, who was being nagged about getting married by her parents, registered on a mid-ranked dating website as the Lunar New Year approached. Her 30^th birthday was seen as a turning point and her family now treats her as an abnormality.

Regardless of any external factors such as economic stagnation, Lunar New Year is a golden time for matchmaking services. External pressure to marry intensifies around Lunar New Year and the mid-autumn festival, and the number of new registrations increases. For the dating services, these times represent a great opportunity to sign up career women in particular.

Dating services are now taking every opportunity to place advertisements across a whole range of media from public transport to the Internet. In its 2014 Lunar New Year advertising campaign, the biggest dating website baihe.com used sensitive expressions such as “surplus women” and “being nagged to get married” and became the subject of public disapproval. As a result, recent adverts take a different slant, encouraging young people to look to marriage, telling them that marriage is not something to be feared or ruled out.

All the dating services also hold matchmaking conventions. These are large scale events, with one in Dongguan City in Guangdong attracting 10,000 participants, including 3,217  from Hong Kong and Macau, and succeeding in matching 200 couples.

 

China's looming aging population problem

Ms. K of Shandong went on to say that her registration on a dating website sets her parents’ minds at ease. While she still hopes to find the right partner to settle down, she added that it would not be her only aim in life. 

This is a sentiment shared by young people in the developed world. However, it is the sheer speed of the change in China that is surprising.

Previously, the lack of women in China was due to a gender imbalance. As of end 2014, there were 33.76 million more men than women in the country. However, that is not the full story. Women are also not actively seek marriage until after they turn 30, and no longer consider getting married their life's aim.

Despite the abolition of the single-child policy, if the number of marriages does not rise, China will soon find itself with a declining birth rate and a growing proportion of elderly people. That means, China could join the ranks of developed countries in terms of its population demographics, even before it does so in economic terms.

(By ZUU)

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