China: Foreign men lose appeal
鈥� A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent
BEIJING 鈥� Ouch! You know the economic crisis is really rippling when it starts making foreign men less attractive to Chinese women.
Chinese dating websites report a recent drop in the number of women seeking foreigners, but that is not because of a sudden availability of Chinese bachelors. It鈥檚 because one of the big advantages Western men seem to offer 鈥� a financially secure future 鈥� now looks a lot less certain.
鈥淔oreigners鈥� pockets are shrinking,鈥� says Cao Lei, spokesman for the Hongniang dating website. 鈥淢any of them ... can鈥檛 even pay their mortgages. It doesn鈥檛 make sense for a woman who wants a stable life to marry abroad.鈥�
As China has opened up to the world, the number of mainland Chinese marrying foreigners has risen from 26,000 in 1991 to 68,000 in 2006, says the Ministry of Civil Affairs. A recent report in Global Times, a popular tabloid here, recounted the new woes of many Chinese women married in Germany: 鈥淢any Chinese women married their husbands for their success and now they are losing their jobs and cars,鈥� the article said. 鈥淎t the same time these women have to take more care of their families in China because of the crisis.鈥�
It seems the financial crisis has spooked a lot of 30-something single career women into seeking refuge in marriage. Nearly two-thirds of Hongniang鈥檚 female clients today are over 28 and earn a professional salary. That鈥檚 up 30 percent from a year ago.
鈥淢any women earned less [in] bonuses this year,鈥� says Mr. Cao. 鈥淭hey are not as optimistic about the future as they used to be. They are looking for protection.鈥�
