Because of the rising divorce rate in China and stories of bad marriages, has becoming married turned into a curse rather than a blessing for many Chinese men and women?
Zhang is the story of a runaway groom, the male version of the character played by Hollywood actress Julia Roberts in the 2008 blockbuster movie about a bride who develops cold feet as she was walking toward the altar for the wedding ceremony.
It was not the case for Zhang since before wedding date could even be set, he run away from home because his family was forcing him to marry at age 29. He successfully hid from his family for one year in another city about 300 kilometers away from his home until Yan’an police in Shaanxi Province got a report on April 29 about a man living in the ruins of a demolished building, reported What’s on Weibo?
When police checked the building on May 1, they found the 30-year-old bachelor living in decrepit condition. However, Zhang did not mind sleeping on the floor and cooking his meals on a makeshift stove rather than be tied for life in a marriage he did not want.
When Zhang’s story was published in Sina Weibo, a lot of netizens commented. There were some comments against fixed marriage with one netizen even stating that the law should ban forcing people into marriage, often done by Chinese parents.
Some found Zhang to be an irresponsible person for not bothering to find a job during the one year he was hiding from his family. Because of his situation, another person commented, “Who would marry a guy like this anyway?”
Zhang, who has been reunited with his family, made it known that his choice is not to get married. However, there are millions of bachelors in China who want to marry but could not due to lack of women. The 30-year-old one-child policy in China has resulted in a gender imbalance in which males outnumber females, now of marrying age, in the millions.
These men, doomed to bachelorhood for the rest of their lives, are called leftover men who are the center of China’s marriage crisis, reported Xinhua News Agency, not the leftover women.