About 6.1 million couples tied the knot last year, down from 7.28 million in 2023 — a drop of more than 20 percent, data from the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs showed. That is more serious than the precipitous drop of 12.2 percent in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the saying goes, a single leaf reveals an entire autumn. The decline in marriages reveals problems in China’s economic development, painting a dismal picture of the nation’s future.
A giant question mark hangs over economic data that Beijing releases due to a lack of clarity, freedom of the press and freedom of expression. Even former Chinese premier Li Keqiang (李克強) said that when he was Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary for Liaoning Province, he created his own reference model by looking at rail cargo volumes, electricity use volumes, bank loans and other data — not Beijing’s official economic indicators — to form a clearer and more accurate grasp of the province’s economic development.
Beijing still staunchly maintains that its official economic growth rate is above 5 percent, but an assessment of the economic situation among ordinary Chinese can be made by looking at the plummeting number of marriages. It is almost impossible to describe how dire the situation is.
It is not rocket science. People do not tend to get married if they do not have enough money and it is difficult to start a family without the ability to support one.
The most stinging aspect is that Chinese are living a miserable existence, yet the CCP is busy wasting resources on military adventurism against neighboring countries. Every day, it sends military aircraft and vessels to harass Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines.
If the CCP stopped wasting all of that money and instead used it to help young Chinese start families or set up businesses, it would be much more beneficial for them.
Would the CCP ever consider doing that?
Huang Tzu-wei works in public service.
Translated by Tim Smith
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