關注社會:中國剩女 在傳統與變革中艱難尋愛
Xu Jiajie has gone on countless blind dates and to numerous match-making events over the past five years in search of a husband.
在過去5年中，許佳潔（音譯）爲找到好一位丈夫參加了無數次相親和婚戀活動。At 31, the baby-faced office worker from Shanghai is under enormous pressure from family and friends to get married. But the right man is hard to find, she says, a big issue for urban, educated and well-paid Chinese women in a society where the husband`s social status is traditionally above the wife`s.
這位來自上海的上班族雖然已經31歲，卻還是一張娃娃臉。談到結婚問題，她表示正處於親友的巨大壓力之下。但許小姐說，傳統的中國家庭中，丈夫的社會地位要高於妻子。對於高教育程度、高收入的城市女性來說，找到合適的男人實在太難了。"My parents have introduced every bachelor they know," said Xu, who earns double the average wage in Shanghai. "Half of the bachelors I met are quiet and never go out. Outgoing men don`t need blind dates."
許小姐的工資是上海市民平均收入的兩倍，她說：“我的父母把他們認識的單身男子全都介紹給我，但在我見過面的單身漢中，有一半人十分內向，很少出門。常出門聚會的人不需要相親。”
As couples celebrate the "Qixi" festival on Tuesday, the Chinese equivalent of Valentine`s Day, Xu and millions of women like her face stark choices as long-held ideas about matrimonial hierarchy run up against economic and social changes sweeping the world`s most populous country.
當一對對戀人週二歡度中國“七夕”情人節時，數以百萬計的女性卻和許小姐一樣面臨着艱難抉擇。在這個全球人口最多的國家中，長久沿襲的婚姻等級制度正遭遇到席捲全國的經濟社會劇變。The term "shengnu" - directly translated as "leftover women" - was coined to refer to professional women who have not married by their late 20s.
社會上還流傳着“剩女”一詞，指的是那些將近30歲還沒結婚的職業女性。"Chinese people often think males should be higher in a relationship in every sense, including height, age, education and salary," Ni Lin, who hosts a popular match-making television show in Shanghai, told Reuters.
上海電視臺著名相親節目主持人倪琳告訴路透社記者：“中國人總認爲在婚姻關係中，男性處處都要高女性一籌，包括身高、年齡、教育水平和工資收入。”"This leads to a phenomenon in which A-grade men marry B-grade women, B-grade men marry C-grade women and C-grade men marry D-grade women. Only A-grade women and D-grade men can`t find partners."
“這導致一等男人娶二等女人，二等男人娶三等女人，三等男人娶四等女人，只有一等女人和四等男人沒人要。”In Beijing, more than a third of women in their late 20s and 30s are looking for husbands, according to the dating website . Media reports say there may be as many as 500,000 "leftover women" in the capital.
婚戀交友網站“世紀佳緣”稱，北京市三十歲上下的女性中，有超過三分之一的人還沒有男朋友。有媒體報道說北京的“剩女”可多達50萬。There are plenty of men to go round among China`s nearly 1.4 billion people but social status can conspire against single professional woman once again.
中國人口近14億，想找個丈夫並不難，但考慮到社會地位，單身職業女性的選擇就不那麼多了。China`s population is more tilted towards men than in many countries due to the government`s one-child policy and a cultural preference for boys. The latest census in 2011 showed there were twice as many single men born in the 1970s as women of the same age.
政府制定計劃生育政策，中國文化傳統又偏愛男孩，導致男性人口多於女性人口，男女比例之大比很多國家都嚴重。2011年的最新人口普查顯示，20世紀70年代出生的同齡人中，單身男性的數量是單身女性的兩倍。But unlike "leftover women", these "shengnan" or "leftover men" often live in lower-tier cities and do not make much money.
但同“剩女”不一樣，這些“剩男”往往住在二三線城市，掙的工資也不高。The Shanghai city government tries to help women like Xu by arranging regular match-making events. One in May attracted 20,000 single men and women.
上海市政府定期舉辦相親活動，幫助像許小姐一樣的女性擺脫單身。曾有2萬名單身男女參加了五月舉辦的婚博會。Lucy Wang, a 32-year-old Chinese language teacher who attended the event, said all she could find were playboy types or momma`s boys.
露西·王是一名32歲的漢語教師，她參加了相親活動後說，見到的男性不是花花公子就是那些過分依賴媽媽的乖兒子。"I sometimes wonder if there is something wrong with me," she said. "Twenty thousand people and yet I can`t find anyone I like."
她說：“有時我都懷疑自己是不是有毛病，兩萬人中居然連一個我喜歡的人都找不到。”
