| dc.description.abstract | In China there is a great gender imbalance, with men outnumbering women by 15%. This is a result of the One Child Policy which was enacted in 1979. At the same cultural moment, in 1978, Deng Xiaoping initiated the Open Door Policy, which opened China’s economy to foreign investment. As the controlled market economy shifted to become more of a “free market”, this led to a breakdown of traditional Chinese family values that had been previously unchallenged. A historical trend that has remained present is women engaging in hypergamous marriages, in which women marry older, better-educated, and wealthier men. Simultaneously, as a result of the increased economic opportunities, more and more women are obtaining higher educational degrees, earning more money, and becoming financially independent. A modern trend, stigmatized by Chinese media, is the rise in “leftover women,” these high-achieving females who are unmarried and “unwanted.” The causes and factors behind these seemingly contradictory trends have a correlated and interconnected effect on the future of Chinese urban society and women’s well-being. A historical framework is used to evaluate the effect of governmental and economic policies on modern society. Also, a combination of Chinese and Western sources brings a balanced perspective on Chinese culture and values in modern day. These seemingly contradictory forces of the oversupply of males and the increasing number of “leftover women” coexist under the influence of the One Child Policy instituted decades earlier. Governmental policies of the Chinese Communist Party affect the daily lives of the current generation of young adults and the future generations to come as a result of these imbalanced marriage trends. | en |
