“My husband and I are extremely worried about her situation. We can’t eat or sleep well,” a woman from Chongqing with the surname Zhang said about her daughter on Chinese television, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
“We hope she can, like most other people, find a job and a man to marry. If so, we can leave this world happily and without any concern,” the worried mom added.
She said her daughter has adopted six stray cats and posts videos of them on social media.
“She picked up these stray cats and lives with them. Does she plan to rely on those cats for the rest of her life?” Zhang said.
According to the SCMP, the woman’s parents bought her an apartment when she finished university, but she has since sold the apartment and now rents one near her parents’ home.
Chongqing TV interviewed the woman, who owned up to her lifestyle choices and dismissed her parents’ worries.
“No matter what I say, they just think my living style is not correct,” said the daughter. “They think it’s wrong for me not to work or date. Also, they don’t understand why I keep pets.”
“The old generation has a different mindset from the younger generation. I have tried to communicate with her. But do you think I can persuade her?” the daughter told the TV station. She said she believes she will soon be able to monetize her vlogging and live on the income it will generate, and that she’s not worried about being unmarried at 38.
“I will not force myself to accept a relationship that I don’t really like. If I happen to meet my 'Mr. Right', it’s okay. I won’t join any blind date activities,” she said.
The woman is far from alone: Chinese millennials have been postponing marriage until later in life for a variety of reasons - a trend repeating itself across East Asia - including a desire for economic independence, a perception that marriage is inherently unequal for women, and changing attitudes about the importance of the social institution. China’s one-child policy, which ended in 2016, is also seen as partly to blame.
A survey carried out last year by the Communist Youth League of 2.905 unmarried youths found that 44% of urban women between the ages of 18 and 26 had no intention of marrying, with 25% of men in that age group saying the same, according to Insider.