A review by anatl
Leftover in China: The Women Shaping the World's Next Superpower by Roseann Lake

hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

 
A riveting and edifying read that explores the demographic and social challenges that ensue when women rise in education and migrate to work in the big cities, while rural men stay behind to take care of their properties and aging parents, and find themselves without viable wives. And as women have better jobs and education they prefer to stay single than marry traditional husbands and vice versa, the men are seeking "plain yogurt" women who they can shape and who will uphold old patriarchical norms.

It explores the history of romantic love and marriage and the generations chaning attitudes, the social norms and customs surrounding Chinese marriages, as well as exploring what takes place in neighbouring countries like Japan and Korea who seem to have declining marriage and birth rates. It explore Singapore government funded efforts to mix singles and boost marriage and fertility. Pairing Singaporean men with Chinese women is a rising phenomenon apparently, as Chinese women have partners who don't need a homemaker but a partner to help build their business, while Singapore women are less likely to follow their lead and prefer to pursue their own carrers and buisnesses.

I can't begin to cover all the subjects the book touches, and all the personal stories and daily lives detail from the women that surround the author. It ties in well with a book I read on the One Child policy way back. Where 150 million households have only one child that is also their social security, the demograpic situation becomes a serious liability