China's Unmarried 'Leftover' Women

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have you ever been called a leftover woman yeah sometimes yeah no matter how excellent you are how capable you are in the larger society's mind you're not as good as a man my name is Wei ting ting and one of the feminists who get arrested before the International Women's Day gran China where women are experiencing unprecedented financial freedom and since Mao founded the People's Republic of China in 1949 have enjoyed equal rights to men well at least on paper up until the Communist revolution women were pretty much considered property and the feet were tied then Mao went breaking the norms of social class and gender declared that women carry half the sky and gender equality was written into the Constitution I would always admit that I'm a beneficiary of the socialist women's liberation remember how American women were empowered to join the workforce in the 1940s when the men left for war and then sent back to the kitchen in the 50s when they returned back in the days of Mao there wasn't enough manpower to build the new China so women joining the workforce were celebrated as iron girls these days however feminists are being the tape and for almost a decade unmarried women older than 27 have been called the derogatory term Xiong nu which means leftover women we're here to find out why women's social status in China is experiencing a backlash some Chinese parents are so worried of their daughters being referred to as leftovers that they've taken the matter of finding them spouts into their own hands we run away to one of China's many wedding Martin we're in one of Beijing's many public parks and today in this one there's a wedding market on where parents come to advertise their unmarried sons and daughters these types of markets happen a lot several times a week all over China we met up with a local matchmaker mr. yang oh so far so good what early or haven't even seen one no yeah I told Roger that downtown yeah he Network no no ma so she's born in 1980 so she's actually 35 is it difficult for her to find a husband at that age can quinella who have done this work hard - it's not known her out now how their town Uehara how the charging watching everything yeah sure some not hot at all yenching way you could turn the hawk just son honey say you Boocock okay honey don't harden her even she goes I go you can attempt a ginger coffee huh see her Evie Evie no single trigger shut up take another you has a bleeding heart open target audience although China's one-child policy which was introduced in the late 1970s was recently revoked for parents it has meant that an unmarried son or daughter is the end of the family lineage that's why it's seen as a parent's final duty in life to see their children married off through a pool throughout our da da Jie yo the da da da da yo yo yo water ha I'm not one to work yo fine your Torah is it possible to make an ad for me and see what happens [Music] everything you condition pay the bottom line nice young fella huh finding a match is not easy because the one-child policy has also created an extreme gender imbalance because sons were preferred many would be daughters were aborted meaning there are over 20 million more men than women in China for long time women they experienced terrible pain personal pens because of the when child policy a lot of forced abortions that kind of situation come the paid attention to the negative consequences of this one child policy only when a research shows that it shows there's a terrible sex ratio imbalance female infanticide was not a concern the government the man cannot fire wife is despite the real issue being the leftover men it's still the women who are berated for leaving their villages to try their luck in the cities but it can marry up or pursue a career leaving millions of poor working men unable to find a spouse do you think I have good options to find a boyfriend found what we see what would he want from us so basically at these markets you usually don't come yourself it's usually your parents and often you don't even know that your parents are here advertising you and you need to put your height your weight usually your date of birth and what kind of spouts you're looking for is the age of a man important now how do you button yeah yeah yeah don't really party in kinesiology and is it important that the man earns more money now as a continued target found ginger they were having you taking you to the young single yelling have you attended to until you finish it for you [Music] what kind of man are you looking for for your daughter's single you win in Kentucky thank you [Applause] [Music] yeah that's me yeah [Music] this guy wanted me to stand up and I'm too tall also people seemed a bit confused asked Who I am here and I'm pretty weirded out too because I'm being judged on completely superficial things sitting here in a dinosaur park with plastic dinosaurs growling and people dancing and doing weird things I got the feeling that it was because of the shortage of wives that the term left of women was coined to pressure girls to marry young and stigmatize the women who choose to pursue a career we wanted to find out what a day in the life was like for one of China's so-called left of women so we met up with the young profession in Beijing action I'm just a TOEFL stick a teacher and listen teacher what's this like your aspiration like this is a job that you always wanted to do yeah I mean I like teaching cuz I like helping people yeah you know it's just like two-way street yeah I get you some something and they can just teach me something in the different way it seems like everywhere you walk in China you're just surrounded by all these odds of like pretty young girls in wedding dresses yeah I feel like it's not that everyone is the lucky enough to get the one to really want and I feel like the leftover ladies I don't feel pity for for them or for us because we really know what we want okay oh so this is your room yeah right let's cut a little bit messy no girls rooms no and have any of these girls like experienced any sort of comments or difficulties because they're like not sort of weak and frail but because they're actually like career-oriented yeah right there are and then we're like all like you know tough women like new hands in China is that another derogatory term so it's not just like over women you also have another laugh traitor exact this have two really famous popular turns in China yeah they really don't like tough girls in China sometimes polite scum like unfair but we are quite okay about it we are still live the way we like we don't care too much about other people think we can we do the one that tells you your age weight analyzing I'm even older than you that's a good age it's good being your 30s is like being you twenties all over again look at all these leftover ladies that's pretty yeah it's cute you know what's ironic to me in China the real issue is the leftover Manion because there are so many more men but how men know over man but they don't label the men left over right is there any sort of hope or expectation in your family that at your age say you should be sort of having your own family or anything like that yeah like always okay like always this is like big issue for me like as 26 years old girl yeah the other day I just started breaking my own birthday I caught my grandpa and he just said something like you know cliche again like hey you're getting old yeah I was like seriously I'm only 26 and then he said come on go find a reliable boyfriend oh you're not you know you don't have to set the bar too high kiss you're not good enough yeah it's just use this strategy he wants me to live a new life hey but I feel like what's this different life is that I feel like funny boyfriend's not only issue in my life it felt strange to me that someone as young as Nicole should feel pressure to get married but she's lucky as her family still relatively understand it but we heard of cases where girls have been shunned by their families for refusing to tie the knot [Music] this mentality is so ingrained in today's China that the wedding and dating industries thrive and predicted to soon surpass 300 million dollars a year we tried out another one of China's many an increasingly popular match finding options today is Chinese Valentine's Day and we're at an amusement park where there's gonna be a speed-dating event taking place and I'm gonna find out what the details are for registering but it seems like people will have to wear paper bags the speed-dating event was organized by matchmaking agency infamous for a TV ad aimed at so-called left of women which sparked public outcry on Chinese social media let's enjoy our touching up I see who knows my man come without you back how long should he do why Paul what's your honor [Music] oh yeah Jesus all the girls would hold the sign and then the boys on the other had a hard time believing that I could find mr. right wearing a paper bag in a nautical themed amusement park do you feel that pressure on you as well being a guy what a girls usually looking for in a guy rating in Mongolia I was brought up onstage blindfolded and asked to pick a man so I'm looking for somebody who make me laugh I'm use intelligence and who reads a lot of books they clearly didn't get my criteria for what I was looking for in a partner young men there are also victims of this highly sexist gender norms how to be a mastering man what is successful masculine man it's all related to money and the house and cars if you don't have any possessions or any of these material goods you're not a real man and then you cannot marry any women having witnessed the gender norms in modern China it was hard to imagine the days when strong working women were idolized back in the days of China's 1960s and 70s cultural revolution Wang Zhang was a movie star of the era's revolutionary heroine films [Music] blue shadow don't you be welcome kim rowoon come in darling who later Jimmy [Applause] while the Kings optimal go to you ginge with a volunteer so she has personal insight on ambitious woman's drastic shift from being celebrated as iron goes to being denounced as leftover women in the socialist period Argo was a symbol of women's double liberation from gender and a class hierarchies from my childhood all other films portrayed revolution their heroics all strong women historically women in China couldn't receive formal education and you had a no right to be in politics it was the socialist revolution especially the feminists in the social revolution they fought very hard to soup away that kind of mentality but unfortunately in the 1980s it's revived the 1980s was China's reform period during which former leader Deng Xiaoping opened up China to foreign investment after China embraced the global capitalism keep OSE oh wow China not development is a miracles everywhere you know the GDP now China ranked number two but most people did not pay attention to the other side of the story that is the polarization class and also the gap between men and women has been increased drastically the Argos was was the first target to be condemned in the nineteen eighties they turned this cause around naming this woman and a symbol of how socialist women's liberation masculinized women a lot of writings at a time we're talking about the best way to retrieve or recover a woman's femininity is to be a good wife and a good mother [Music] the brainwash is so powerful because they have the new media they have all the billboards to show what is a happy life or a happy young wife don't try to aspire for a career you know no matter how much the sense for you in Korea you will feel so empty in your heart if you cannot find a man your life so talisman is kind of stuff circulating in chants media publications everywhere to trap excellent yo I'm a competitive young woman in marriage despite the social pressure to marry young and women's pursuit of a career often frowned upon more and more Chinese women refused to buy into that social stigma cities like Beijing and Shanghai full of unmarried successful career woman we're gonna go meet some of them from a group called lean in Beijing to see how they feel about this whole concept of the left over women lean in Beijing was founded in 2012 inspired by Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg's book of the same name they already have thousands of members across China Nicole is one of them please come in great thank you I think the role of this organization is to allow or to encourage you know Chinese women to define what success is what their goals and dreams are on their own terms there is life after 30 having many Chinese women are terrified of turning 30 and that you know should they choose to pursue their careers and even if society or season is left over you know they can still live full and happy lives I feel like we're trying to people focus too much on age right and I love along the leftover lady this disc comes out I feel lazy compliment you were brave to be back all over ladies and we are still wait for the good relationship we're still hopeful love or our dreams our career I'm kind of well you should write an email text or text for my blog so what I was it to see you without it through from from my experience with love relationships that is pretty much the most unreliable thing that you can buy your future and the most reliable thing surely is having a career so that you can support yourself and your children no matter what happens what kind of issues have you all faced then your professional life that you bring here and talk about together uses or the back door actually not a nitrification we can end up without quicker hop Lindsay McConnell you need our changes my shoot Kanani Canyon to that another question I haven't seen so it's not going to go to the fridge hammer freezing you ain't had each other so that do is how much thank you voice in the comics Roger then Miren see she wasn't your man how'd you know what Donald I'm a sonic warrior is way meeting my creature protection of Indiana not know how much about us and in front of the telly so today's yummy they have all the resources they were princesses in there when child families right and they thought it could everything you know they used to be the center of the universe but so they graduate from school they are the experienced gender discrimination and they thought yeah I can do everything anything you know but now in the society no no no you are you as your secondary citizen in this country you know no matter how excellent you are how capable you are but in the larger society is mind you're not as good as a man but a paradox City they also grow in a period they enjoy them much more resources they were the center of their family right so it's very paradoxical situation here and you have to understand this paradox in order to understand the deep sense of frustration amount is cohort of young women I'm a poet once so you have an act like a woman doesn't you think like a woman's nice I'm sure I knew I got this I don't have me learn your place in the social peer astronomers is good positive right pretty soon the term strong woman new children become derogatory women were afraid are being labeled as new children so they tried to pretend to be you know we are we can do not do this so we cannot do that after the meeting Nicole invited us for a night out so do you get your nails done often do you think it's confusing for people that you do your nails you like all these girly things but then you're you and all the other lean in girls are quite like strong and tough it's not something that confuses people I feel like this is like conservative you know stereotype we're not supposed to be really capable or aggressive in the public place or workplace but I know things that were changed now China nowadays is much better than before more advanced would you call yourself a feminist I don't think so yeah I'm not a feminist feminist like always just put yourself on the opposite side to the man I always fight with other I don't think that's a good thing I mean I think it's too strong the word feminist seems to have negative connotations in China even women who take all the boxes for what a feminist is like Nicole will avoid this label the feminism does still exist in China what you can rent for what [Music] [Music] yeah you need panda she will take a new heart and a diversity being politically active feminists and China's frisky and can get you detained but there are still people who do it we're on a way to meet a feminist collective called become for currently rehearsing a Chinese version of The Vagina Monologues The Vagina Monologues yeah you didn't I'm a whole divisions you go home you don't have assumed roller what Superman yo you a tinder new then what's on your shirt like its feminism big in China listen house on that down tonnage you're sure making from Ian - sure young eat only change your shirt inside and Shan Shan Shan Shan Shan I found should be on church you know how bad out the sri drum pad sounds eyeshadow now you're adorable geometry Misha so will make you go to new hundred minutes ah-ha-ah-ha push Rosita Oh jealous to be a kingdom come and your are desert neoteny national/international jato talk my own self and since I have initially not rent or food Sorrento be intolerable dal-gu come on y'all that's insane China has about fifth of the world's women and you have a thousand families [Music] Honora ensure her own territorial courtroom you've had friends who have been arrested by the police for doing feminist activity are you ever scared shut up Oh Judah now you gonna control each other risky diagnosing nutrition risking good TV initial condition should be the change young information from you to the other humans we are from computer is your charge of people say oh she took me that's a fat is she though so she knows you got your baby baby she has what ha ha ha ha no matter if you're talking about which I'm Jesus presenter so let's just show up you little silicone to the pony showgirl the entirety but how there you go Judy that you got wonderful Tucker if I'm shiny but legacy we're not very nice is a university system that the neighbors always end up that's so that's why ha ha ha ha sighs with soy sauce alone in the lead-up to the International Women's Day in 2015 the arrests of China's feminists 5 made World News 5 women's rights activists in China have been held for a month on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble actually meeting one of the feminists fight who are now out on probation would be too risky for everyone involved instead we got one of their activists ting ting to film herself answering our questions I along with four other girls we are detained because we plan to have a - anti the harassment in public transportation I was tested over 40 times in in the 30 days they searched all my email they searched my diary even they read my diary to me like saying you said that this list is words which means you want to enter our government actually I'm not I think I'm really read a good girl and a good citizens I just want to do something good for our society you know in China how can you not to be a feminist when you face so much discrimination and when you saw so much violence and equal to in my experience domestic violence is a big issues for women to face according to the UN more than 50 percent of Chinese men abused their partners and marital rape is not a crime in China I was a victim of domestic violence my my mother suffered domestic violence when I was young so that's that's how I became a feminist despite the arrest is I choose to continue my fight it's a hard time for us but we I think we have bright future Amnesty International estimates the half a million people are currently in punitive detention without charge or trial in China and that surveillance house arrest and imprisonment of activists is on the increase the whole world knew the feminist of five right I'm really hopeful that they will continue their fight today's consumer is the culture very oppressive two young men women even though against very harsh political reality and political environment I still hoping us will see a lot more young families were emerge from this kind of social condition and I'm quite hopeful the early feminists you know who join the revenue they experience so much hardship they are the established all these mechanism policies everything social institutions everything but there can be dismantled so right now the generation of young women found themselves again in the void situation demise my generation right so they have to refight a bathroom every generation had to fight about how to pursue a society of justice and equality everybody has to fight [Music] you you

Info

Channel: VICE Asia

Views: 2,090,555

Rating: 4.5474648 out of 5

Keywords: feminism, Iron Girls, Leftover Women, Vagina Monologues, One Child Policy, Wedding Hysteria, Chinese Feminism, Wang Zheng, Tingting, BCome, feminist, women's rights, china, sexism, documentary, documentaries, interview, interviews, culture, world, exclusive, independent, underground, videos, journalism, vice guide, vice presents, vice news, vice asia, vice.com, vice, vice magazine, vice mag, vice videos

Id: WBMcoJWo92Y

Channel Id: undefined

Length: 31min 56sec (1916 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 05 2018

Reddit Comments

As women get older it biologically makes less and less sense to devote resources to them through marriage. That's true in every place and every time, and China isn't different. A young woman in China no doubt holds all the cards like everywhere. Just because some miss the opportunity to get married to a rich guy doesn't justify resentful social commentary.

👍︎︎ 5 👤︎︎ u/singwithaswing 📅︎︎ Mar 05 2019 🗫︎ replies

Thank you for recommending this documentary. I know almost nothing about China and found it educational.

👍︎︎ 1 👤︎︎ u/electronsarebrave 📅︎︎ Mar 08 2019 🗫︎ replies