An expert’s proposal to help more male villagers get hitched has been ridiculed as reductive and impractical.
On February 15th, it appears an article on how to solve the problem of surplus males in rural areas.
The article quoted the suggestion of Wu Xiuming, deputy secretary-general of the Shanxi Think Tank Development Association, saying that in the long run, narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas and between regions can simultaneously solve the problem of more men in rural areas and more women in cities; for now, it can be considered. “Export” the remaining males from rural areas to industries and regions where women are concentrated, or arrange for cross-regional blind dates to solve some gender “structural” problems as much as possible.
Wu’s proposal immediately incited spirited reactions online, with many netizens ridiculing its overly simplistic logic. On microblogging platform Weibo, a related hashtag had been viewed more than 320 million times by Thursday evening.
“The real root of the problem is patriarchal norms,” wrote one user. “Please don’t conflate marriage with breeding,” she added, suggesting people shouldn’t be reduced to tools for procreation.
China’s growing ranks of singles — sometimes pejoratively referred to as “leftover” — have long been a source of concern among marriage-minded authorities looking to reverse the country’s falling birth rate. Yet experts have said Wu’s idea of yoking urban women with rural men isn’t realistic.
