According to a recent survey on marriage by a research center under the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Young League, those born between 1995 and 2009, known as Gen Z, aka the major group to walk down the aisle in the coming 10 years, displayed a decreasing interest in getting married. Further analysis revealed that female respondents were noticeably less willing to marry than men. Women reluctant to engage in marriage outnumber their male peers by 19.29 percent.

The proportion of young people surveyed in economically developed areas who said they would not get married reached 14.4 percent, 7.7 percentage points higher than that found in smaller cities. This means that the more economically developed a region is, the more people choose to stay single.

Jiang Jingjing (www.thecover.cn): Some young people refuse to get married, or are at the very least hesitant, due to their fear of an unhappy union. Most of them are very active on various social media platforms, imposing their own fears and worries regarding the topic of marriage onto others. Gen Z tends to ignore the complexity, diversity and maturing process of marriage, but choose to overemphasize the risks and troubles that might come with it.

Some of them become very keen to spread their ideas of not getting married, commending the merits of leading a single life. In stark contrast, those who have already been immersed in the happiness of their marriage rarely share their joyful stories on social media. Gradually, posts or comments on social media supporting the "no marriage" notion have become rife in cyberspace. This imbalance between pros and cons tends to result in a misunderstanding on the part of the young, believing that marriage is a source of misery. As a result, more and more young people are deterred by this "horrible" prospect.

Of course, every marriage comes with its own complications, but to blatantly refuse to get married is unwise. A blissful and perfect union is not easy to find, but at least the younger generations need to have a go at looking for a significant other. Otherwise, they might have more to lose than to gain.

He Yafu (The Beijing News): The declining willingness to get married is partly blamed on changing attitudes and understandings of marriage, but, at the same time, quite a number of young people do not get married due to the difficulties they face in real life such as skyrocketing property prices. You will see a lower willingness among young people in rich areas where property prices are much higher, than you will in smaller cities.

As for the high proportion of young women who are unwilling to get married, advanced levels of education and being more economically independent are two major underlying reasons here. According to statistics from the Ministry of Education, female graduate students in 2019 accounted for 50.6 percent of the total student body in higher education while undergraduates made up 51.7 percent.

Although the relevant authorities demand that employers not ask about the marital status of their job applicants, to a large extent, employers still prefer unmarried women. Therefore, it's important to protect the rights to employment for married women, or more young women will have to delay their walk down the aisle to a later age.

A harmonious marriage and family life are crucial to an individual's work and life balance as well as to social stability. Particularly nowadays, China's entering an aging society and thus it's becoming more important than ever to encourage young people to get married, especially young females.

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon

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