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Material girls lose good men
By Alex Gladstone and Greg Wells |
August 22, 2011, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
HOME ownership is extremely important for Chinese people, and is even more significant when marriage is in the question.
Traditionally, a Chinese man will either purchase a home before proposing to his girlfriend, or will solicit his family's help to do so. Home ownership represents stability, and many Chinese parents will be reluctant to marry their daughter off to a man who does not own a house or apartment.
Shanghainese women, famous for their sophistication and high standards for men, are especially likely to impose home ownership as a requirement for marriage.
According to our survey conducted in Shanghai on August 6, which was distributed to Chinese women between the ages of 18 and 30 years old, 64.6 percent of waidi nu ren (women from outside Shanghai), will consider marrying a man who does not own a home, while only 49.7 percent of Shanghainese women will consider such a possibility.
Fortunately for the hard-working men, 86.4 percent of the Shanghainese women who refuse to marry a man who does not own his home will entertain the idea of splitting the cost with their husband-to-be. Waidi nu ren are even more generous, 95.7 percent of them agreeing that it would be reasonable for them to share the expense of home buying.
With property prices in Shanghai consistently rising, both men and women are facing significant financial pressure. Men who are unable to afford to buy a home are hoping that their potential brides, both Shanghainese and otherwise, will be lenient towards them.
With more marriage-age women who insist on a home-owning man than there are marriage-age men who have the capital to make it happen, it seems that some Chinese women, especially the Shanghainese ones, will need relax their demands, lest they should lose out on the chance of marrying a good man.
The authors are freelance journalists now living in Shanghai.
Traditionally, a Chinese man will either purchase a home before proposing to his girlfriend, or will solicit his family's help to do so. Home ownership represents stability, and many Chinese parents will be reluctant to marry their daughter off to a man who does not own a house or apartment.
Shanghainese women, famous for their sophistication and high standards for men, are especially likely to impose home ownership as a requirement for marriage.
According to our survey conducted in Shanghai on August 6, which was distributed to Chinese women between the ages of 18 and 30 years old, 64.6 percent of waidi nu ren (women from outside Shanghai), will consider marrying a man who does not own a home, while only 49.7 percent of Shanghainese women will consider such a possibility.
Fortunately for the hard-working men, 86.4 percent of the Shanghainese women who refuse to marry a man who does not own his home will entertain the idea of splitting the cost with their husband-to-be. Waidi nu ren are even more generous, 95.7 percent of them agreeing that it would be reasonable for them to share the expense of home buying.
With property prices in Shanghai consistently rising, both men and women are facing significant financial pressure. Men who are unable to afford to buy a home are hoping that their potential brides, both Shanghainese and otherwise, will be lenient towards them.
With more marriage-age women who insist on a home-owning man than there are marriage-age men who have the capital to make it happen, it seems that some Chinese women, especially the Shanghainese ones, will need relax their demands, lest they should lose out on the chance of marrying a good man.
The authors are freelance journalists now living in Shanghai.
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