The Rickshaw Report: November 11 – Both China's Singles Day & The World's Biggest Online Shopping Event

1. On November 11, China celebrates Singles Day. What is the point of the holiday? It used to be about single people celebrating their singlehood. However, now the day seems to have totally changed into a shopping festival. 2. How is China’s dating culture different to that of your parent’s generation? When my mother and father were young, it seemed like marriages were usually arranged by the couple’s families, who were almost always of equal social rank. But now everyone seems free to choose their spouse. Today, the most important factor is not the couple’s social status or the connection between both families, but that the two get along well. 3. China is now experiencing a phenomenon with “left over men” and “left over women”. What’s the solution to this problem? I know a lot of people who fall into that category. I think that such circumstances are caused by the individual’s lifestyle. These people are content living alone. They do not need to worry about someone else, not suffer the strains of married life. But at the same time, this phenomenon of leftover men / women is a serious social issue. Its probably a consequence of China’s family planning policy. I have heard that some men have tried to cure their loneliness by moving abroad in order to find […]