Chinese women prefer to be single rather than an unhappy relationship

[Photo: from VCG]

The romantic comedy Ex File 3 (2018) has drawn millions of Chinese to the movie theaters. It tells the story of two male friends whose blissful single lifestyle is shattered when their ex-girlfriends re-enter the picture and put a wrench in their casual dating escapades.

It appears that the film has struck a chord with China's young. The movie made 1.36 billion yuan ($214 million) at the box office as of January 8, according to a recent South China Morning Post report. Also, statistics from Tao Piao Piao, a Chinese online ticketing platform, show that Chinese under 24 made up 70 percent of the movie's viewers, the majority of whom were women.

What made so many women come out in their numbers to see the film? Do they relate to the storyline because they have had a similar experience in the past?

Casual dating is increasingly common among Chinese youth, especially with the prevalence of dating apps. Chinese dating app Momo alone has over 90 million active monthly users as of June 2017, according to a report published by Singapore-based consulting company China Internet Watch. Although technology has made meeting new people and falling in love easier, ending a relationship remains difficult nonetheless.

Unmarried women of a certain age are often stigmatized as "leftover" by Chinese society. However, the new generation of Chinese women, those born in the 1990s, appears to have taken a pragmatic stance toward relationships by choosing to end relations that do not feel right to them anymore. In this scenario, it seems it's the men who are "leftover", although they statistically outnumber the women in China. 

[The audio clip is from Studio+, produced by CRI] 

(News source: Global Times)