Batches of bachelors

Leftover women or an unappreciated feast?

The truth is out there somewhere

China has a surplus of 22 million to 34 million males, says Yuan Xin, a professor at Nankai University's Institute of Population and Development.

He considers leftover men a bigger social problem than leftover women - a popular term for accomplished females who are at least 27 years old and still not married.

"The matter of leftover women is brought about by a person's standards in choosing a spouse," Yuan says.

"But the problem of leftover men cannot be solved. These people will inevitably spend their whole lives single They want to find a partner, but tens of millions of women were never born."

Social scientists say most lifelong bachelors will be found in rural areas that women have deserted for jobs in the cities and where men often don't have many assets with which to woo potential wives.

Why then is there a rise in leftover men even among those who are marketable?

These men, experts say, are reacting against society's values, which emphasize what they have rather than who they are.

When couples talk about getting married nowadays, they mean preparing a house, a car and other "hardware". But they don't prepare the relationship itself, says Chen Xiuru, Chinese Society of Education marriage and family researcher.

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