In China, there is a channel streaming called Mango TV, controlled by a state broadcasting service, which is very popular among young people thanks to the reality shows. It has a monthly average of 280 million viewers and the audience mainly devours programs specialized in couples. One of the most popular invites three married couples in crisis to embark on an 18-day vacation to resolve their problems. Although the outcome of divorce is very present, choreographed reconciliation endings almost always occur thanks to the help of recorded therapies with psychologists. The outcome has to be happy at a time when China What it seeks is to encourage marriages so that more children are born..
Programs to find love are also widely broadcast on the channel. There is one in which eight millennials Singles lock themselves in a house for a month. In another, a group of young people spend a week on a yacht looking for their better half. And we must not forget the always successful style formats First Dateswhich are then the most commented on Weibo, X’s Chinese brother, formerly known as Twitter.
These realities They have always been very popular in the Asian giant. But there have never been as many as there are now on government-controlled television. Something that makes sense given the many campaigns that exist to encourage the large mass of young single people to get married and have children.
The marriage rate has fallen to historic lows: 6.8 million last year, 800,000 less than the previous year and more than half what it was a decade ago. All this in a country where the culture of not having children outside of marriage is still deeply rooted. This is having a direct consequence on the demographic crisis that the nation is going through, where more than a sixth of the world’s population lives and which is one of the fastest aging societies in the world. Last year, for the first time in six decades, China shrank.
Its transition from traditional to modern values has been much faster than in most countries. Two decades ago, Chinese women accounted for only 20% of university admissions. Now they exceed 52%. Their economic independence has increased, pbut gender roles are still stuck in the past. Domestic work and the responsibility of raising children continue to fall on them, as do family pressures to be mothers. For this reason, many women, especially in big cities, prioritize their professional development before getting married and starting a family. Wang Dan, chief economist of the Chinese bank Hang Seng, added an interesting note in an article: “Most women are looking for love and most men are looking for a wife.”