China Celebrates The Valentines Day (Photo : Getty Images)
It is not just China’s 30-year one-child policy that is to be identified as the reason why singles are plenty in the Asian giant. The gender imbalance created by the Communist government’s policy has led singles not only to live with their situation but even thrive in their single state of life.
But the reasons why many of the 58 million unmarried Chinese, aged between 20 and 39 and living alone in , are happy is the support structures in urban areas, from realtors to retailers, noted Global Times.
Finding affordable rental properties that measures about 20 square meters and charges 2,000 yuan can be done with the help of realtors who have realized the big business in providing accommodations for this market.
For instance, the YouPlus International Youth Community converted an old toothpaste factory in Guangzhou Province into solo apartment units but with a large communal space in each building to give tenants with common interests a place to gather and socialize. Since then, YouPlus has expanded and now owns 11 buildings across China with almost 10,000 residents.
In places where young migrant workers stay, it is not the supermarket or grocery that is the hangout place. Rather, it is the convenience store where singles could buy meals for one person and their other personal needs. In Shanghai, the Wall Street of China, 6,000 convenience stores opened in the last few years to meet the everyday needs of the young, single migrant workers.
The support structure is not limited to goods but includes services such as a cooking for single person tutorial video shown on cabs and other public places to encourage the millions of unmarried youth to stay healthy even if they no longer enjoy mother’s home-cooked meals, except when they go home every Spring Festival.
But even the Lunar New Year holiday, many of them skip to avoid question from relatives as to when do they plan to marry. “Not in the near future” is apparently the answer of the bachelor and bachelorette Chinese whose number has inspired Alibaba to create a Single's Day held Nov. 11 every year.
Year after year, the record of online sales on this day has been broken, making Christmas shopping online sales pale in comparison such as in 2015 when sales jumped 60 percent from 2014 and hit 91.2 billion yuan ($14.3 billion), while Cyber Monday day sales in the U.S. was a measly $1.35 billion, reported BBC.
Single’s Day confirms that not only are China’s unmarried youth happy and satisfied with their untangled and uncomplicated life, but also they are an economic power that the Chinese economy would have to learn to deal with.
