Abstract
Starting from the postulate that formation of heterosexual unions is necessarily affected by a numerical imbalance between the sexes in the marriage market, this paper uses data from a survey conducted in 2014–2015 in three rural counties of Shaanxi, China, to analyse the mechanisms to cope with this rather particular socio-demographic situation and with the poverty that is endemic in the survey area, in order to achieve marriage by any means. This empirical study based on individual quantitative data analyses the consequences of the male marriage-squeeze from the point of view of married men. The difficulty of getting married is identified and taken into account to analyse three specific adaptation mechanisms: demographic adaptations, changes in social norms regarding mate selection criteria, and economic adaptations. Findings demonstrate that marriage timing and age gap between spouses are levers that enable men to enlarge their pool of potential mates. But monetization of marriage is one of the most immediate consequences of the competition between the men seeking to marry. In sum, the men who reported difficulties getting married did so later than the other men, have greater age-gap with their spouse, and are in a disadvantaged position when negotiating the terms of their marriage. We conclude that the male marriage-squeeze has to be understood not only in relation to how marriage is constructed as a family and social institution, but also as a catalyst for other inequalities, especially in terms of social and economic capital.
Notes
In 2015, nationwide, there were 153 never-married men aged 20–59 for every 100 never-married women in that age group (NBS 2016).
The ratio of boys to girls at birth reached 120:100 in 2009 and was still 112:100 in 2017—7% above the expected level.
The survey was jointly conducted by INED (France) and the IPDS, Xi’an Jiaotong University (Shaanxi, China).
Lu and Wang (2014) give slightly different values for the mean age at first marriage, that would have raised from 23.9 years for men and 22.4 for women in 1990 to respectively 26.2 and 24.4 in urban areas in 2010, and from 23.2 years for men and 21.6 for women in 1990 to respectively 24.8 and 22.8 in rural areas in 2010.
Because our survey sample is not representative of the total population of China, and the mean ages at marriage here are calculated not among first unions but among current unions (that can be a first or a subsequent union).
As the survey did not ask the married men what their income level had been at the time of their marriage, we cannot explore this issue more thoroughly.
References
Anderson, S. (2007). The economics of dowry and bride price. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21(4), 151–174.
Attané, I. (2018). Being a single man in rural China. Population and Societies, 557, 1–4.
Attané, I., Eklund, L., Merli, G., Bozon, M., Angeloff, T., Bo, Y., et al. (2019). Understanding bachelorhood in poverty-stricken and high sex ratio settings: an exploratory study in rural Shaanxi, China. The China Quarterly, 240, 990–1017.
Attané, I., Zhang, Q., Li, S., Yang, X., & Guilmoto, C. (2013). Bachelorhood and sexuality in a context of female shortage: Evidence from a survey in Rural Anhui, China. The China Quarterly, 215, 703–726.
Bourdieu, P. (2002). Le Bal des célibataires. Crise de la société paysanne en Béarn. Paris: Seuil.
Brown, P. H. (2009). Dowry and intrahousehold bargaining: Evidence from China. The Journal of Human Resources, 44(1), 25–46.
Capdeville-Zeng, C. (2011). Mariage et amour en Chine. Les échanges et les sentiments dans les mariages dans un village du Jiangxi d’aujourd’hui. 4e congrès du Réseau Asie. https://hal-inalco.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01282547/document.
Chen, J. (2015). Chinese law: Context and transformation: Revised and expanded edition. Boston: Brill Nijhoff.
CMSS (2014). Chinese Marriage Status Survey 2014 (Zhongguo ren hunlian zhuangkuang diaocha baogao). http://china.cnr.cn/gdgg/20150111/t20150111_517381996.shtml.
Colin, S. (2013). Le défi rural du ‘rêve chinois’. Hérodote, 3(150), 9–26.
Das Gupta, M., Ebenstein, A., & Sharygin, E. (2013). Implications of China’s future bride shortage for the geographical distribution and social protection needs of never-married men. Population Studies, 67(1), 39–59.
Davin, D. (2007). Marriage migration in China and East Asia. Journal of Contemporary China, 16, 83–95.
Du, J., Wang, Y., & Zhang, Y. (2015). Sex imbalance, marital matching and intra-household bargaining. China Economic Review, 35, 197–218.
Ebenstein, A., & Sharygin, E. J. (2009). The consequences of the ‘missing girls’ of China. The World Bank Economic Review, 23(3), 399–425.
Eklund, L., & Attané, I. (2017). Marriage squeeze and mate selection. In X. Zang (Ed.), Handbook on marriage and the family in china (pp. 156–174). London: Sage.
Emery, R. E. (2013). Cultural sociology of divorce: An encyclopedia. Sage: University of Virginia.
Fan, C., & Li, L. (2002). Marriage and migration in transitional China: A field study of Gaozhou, Western Guangdong. Environment and Planning, 34(4), 619–638.
Fincher, L. H. (2014). Leftover women: The resurgence of gender inequality in China. London: Zed Books.
Higgins, L., Zheng, M., Liu, Y., & Chun, H. S. (2002). Attitudes to marriage and sexual behaviors: A survey of gender and culture differences in China and UK. Sex Roles, 46, 75–89.
Hinsch, B. (2016). Women in imperial China. Lanham, Boulder, New York and London: Rowman and Littlefield.
Huang, Y. (2012). Remarriage, gender, and life course in contemporary inland rural China. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 43(2), 313–330.
Jankowiak, W. R. (1989). Sex differences in mate selection and sexuality in the People’s Republic of China. The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, 22, 63–83.
Jégouzo, G. (1972). L’ampleur du célibat chez les agriculteurs. Economie et Statistique, 34, 13–22.
Jiang, Q., & Sánchez-Barricarte, J. (2012). Bride price in China: The obstacle to ‘Bare Branches’ seeking marriage. The History of the Family, 17(1), 2–15.
Jiang, Q., & Sánchez-Barricarte, J. (2013). Socio-demographic risks and challenges of bare-branch villages in China. Asian Social Work and Policy Review, 7, 99–116.
Jiang, Q., Zhang, Y., & Sánchez-Barricarte, J. (2015). Marriage expenses in rural China. The China Review, 15(1), 207–236.
Jin, X., Lige, L., Yan, L., Feldman, M. W., & Li, S. (2013). ‘Bare Branches’ and the marriage market in rural China: preliminary evidence from a village survey. Chinese Sociological Review, 46(1), 83–104.
Johnson, G. E. (1992). Family strategies and economic transformation in rural China: Some evidence from the Pearl River Delta. In D. Davis & S. Harrel (Eds.), Chinese families in the post-mao era. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Jones, G., & Yeung, W. (2014). Marriage in Asia. Journal of Family Issues, 35(12), 1624–1641.
Jones, G. W., & Gubhaju, B. (2009). Factors influencing changes in mean age at first marriage and proportions never marrying in the low-fertility countries of East and Southeast Asia. Asian Population Studies, 5(3), 237–265.
Li, S., Jiang, Q., & Feldman, M. (2014). The male surplus in China’s marriage market: Review and prospects. In I. Attané & B. Gu (Eds.), Analyzing China’s population. Social change in a new demographic era. Heidelberg: Springer.
Li, S., Zhang, Q., Yang, X., & Attané, I. (2010). Male singlehood, poverty and sexuality in rural China: An exploratory survey. Population-E, 65(4), 679–694.
Liu, J. (2007). Gender and work in urban China. Women workers of the unlucky generation. London: Routledge.
Liu, L., Jin, X., Brown, M., & Feldman, M. (2014a). Male marriage squeeze and inter-provincial marriage in central China. Journal of Contemporary China, 23(86), 351–371.
Liu, L., Jin, X., Brown, M., & Feldman, M. (2014b). Involuntary bachelorhood in rural China: A social network perspective. Population-E, 69(1), 103–126.
Lu, J., & Wang, X. (2014). Changing patterns in marriage and divorce in today’s China. In I. Attané & B. Gu (Eds.), Analyzing China’s population. Social change in a new demographic era. Heidelberg: Springer.
Ma, L., & Rizzi, E. (2017). Entry into first marriage in China. Demographic Research, 37(36), 1231–1244.
Mann, S. L. (2011). Gender and sexuality in modern Chinese history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mu, Z., & Xie, Y. (2014). Marital age homogamy in China: A reversal of trend in the reform era? Social Sciences Research, 44, 141–157.
NBS. (2016). 2015 China 1% National population survey, Guojia tongjiju renkou he jiuye tongjisi. Beijing: Zhongguo tongjiju chubanshe.
PCO (2012). Population Census Office and National Bureau of Statistics of China. Tabulation on the 2010 Population Census of the People’s Republic of China. Beijing: Zhongguo tongji chubanshe.
Pettier, J.-B. (2015). Les guerres sentimentales: anthropologie morale du marché matrimonial de la Chine urbaine des années 2000, PhD Thesis. Paris: EHESS.
Qi, X. (2015). Filial obligation in contemporary China: Evolution of the culture-system. Journal for the Theory of Social behaviour, 45(1), 141–161.
Raymo, J., Park, H.-J., Xie, Y., & Yeung, W.-J. (2015). Marriage and family in East Asia: Continuity and change. Annual Review of Sociology, 41(1), 471–492.
SBS. (2011). Shaanxi statistical yearbook. Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Statistics. Beijing: China Statistics Press.
Shaanxi Regional Statistical Yearbook (2014). Shaanxi Bureau of Statistics, China Statistics Press.
South, S., & Trent, K. (2010). Imbalanced sex ratios, men’s sexual behavior, and risk of sexually transmitted infection in China. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 51(4), 376–390.
Tucker, C., & Van Hook, J. (2013). Surplus Chinese men: demographic determinants of the sex ratio at marriageable ages in China. Population and Development Review, 39(2), 209–229.
Wang, Q., & Zhou, Q. (2010). China’s divorce and remarriage rates: Trends and regional disparities. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 51(4), 257–267.
Wei, S.-J., & Zhang, X. (2011). The competitive saving motive: Evidence from rising sex ratios and savings rates in China. Journal of Political Economy, 119(3), 511–564.
Wei, Y., & Zhang, L. (2015). Involuntary bachelorhood in rural China. China Report, 51(1), 1–22.
WPP (2019). World Population Prospects 2019. United Nations. https://population.un.org/wpp/. Accessed 20 May 2019.
Xu, K.-Q. (2019). Changing patterns and determinants of first marriage over the history of the People’s Republic of China. Population-E, 74(3), 205–235.
Yan, Y. (2005). The individual and transformation of bridewealth in rural north China. Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute, 11(4), 637–658.
Yang, X., Attané, I., Li, S., & Zhang, Q. (2012). On same-sex sexual behaviors among male bachelors in rural china: evidence from a female shortage context. American Journal of Men’s Health, 6(2), 108–119.
Yu, J., & Xie, Y. (2015). Cohabitation in China: Trends and determinants. Population and Development Review, 41(4), 607–628.
Yuen, S.-P., Law, P.-L., & Ho, Y.-Y. (2004). Marriage, gender, and sex in a contemporary village. New York: ME Sharpe.
Zagorsky, J. (2005). Marriage and divorce’s impact on wealth. Journal of Sociology, 41(4), 406–424.
Zarafonetis, N. (2017). Sexuality in a changing China: Young women, sex and intimate relations in the reform period. New York, NY: Routledge.
Zhou, X., & Hesketh, T. (2017). High sex ratios in rural China: Declining well-being with age in never-married men. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Part B, 372, 1729.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Attané, I. Changes in union formation patterns in a context of male marriage-squeeze: an exploratory survey in rural Shaanxi, China. China popul. dev. stud. 4, 384–404 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42379-020-00060-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42379-020-00060-8