Spring Festival is approaching; When are you getting married?

By Wu Yan (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2016-01-25 15:49

Parents choose potential partners for their children through viewing the vital statistics of eligible young people at a matchmaking conference in Xiangyang, Central China's Hubei province on Dec 20, 2015. [Photo/IC]

About 80 percent of Chinese people who have reached marriageable age are under pressure from their parents to get married, according to a report. As Spring Festival, an occasion for family reunions, is approaching, young people returning home from their jobs in the city will face another round of scrutiny from older relatives about whether or not they will get married soon, Modern Express reported.

Report on Situation of Unmarried People Being Pushed into Marriage in China was released recently by China Youth Concern Committee for the Advancement of Health and Physical Culture Development.

The report was based on the Committee's research, which surveyed 1,000 unmarried people under 40 years old from each city across China.

It showed that people aged between 25 and 35 years old are under the most pressure with 86 percent being pushed. Even 3 percent of youth who have not reached marriageable age are not immune from such pressure.

Different ways that parents across the country use to push their children

The usual words parents use to urge their children are "you are not young", "your parents are getting older" and " My friend's daughter gave birth to a baby and the baby is so cute", etc.

Parents in Southwest China's Sichuan province make a good use of siege tactics by encouraging relatives to join them to persuade their children.

Shanghai parents are some of the most insistent, as they persistently nag their children.

In comparison, parents from the southwestern province of Guangxi do it in a simple and direct way. They are excellent in arranging blind dates for their children.

Parents in East China's Jiangsu province are the epitome of pushy parents. Nearly twenty percent of them push their children more than ten times a year, the highest frequency across the country.

Their efforts are effective. The number of blind dates that young Jiangsu people participate in also ranks high in the country list. Some 19 percent of respondents participate more than 10 times in a year.