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Opinion / Zou Hanru
HK ladies, it's raining men on the mainland
By Zou Hanru (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-03 07:10
In 30 years' time, there won't be enough men for women to marry in Hong
Kong.
That's the projection by Hong Kong's Census and Statistics Department.
Census figures suggested that in the three decades to come, the number of
men for every 1,000 women would sharply come down from 912 in 2006 to 709
in 2036.
Moreover, the situation is going to be worst for those aged between 25
and 44. Even after assuming that the tens of thousands of foreign
domestic helpers wouldn't vie with local women for males, there would
only be 664 men for every 1,000 women in this age group, which is the
golden age for marriage and child bearing. And there would be only 695
men for 1,000 women in the next group, aged 45-64.
The situation is further aggravated by the fact that more Hong Kong men
are looking northward for brides. In 2006, about 28,000 Hong Kong men
married mainland women, an increase of more than 80 percent over 2001,
while only about 6,500 Hong Kong women married across the border last
year.
The reason for this increasing asymmetry is not that Hong Kong mothers
are giving birth to less baby boys. Nor are there more women migrating to
the Special Administrative Region from the mainland than men. The trend,
according to Commissioner for Census and Statistics Fung Hing-wang, was
caused by the growing number of Hong Kong men working and residing on the
mainland.
Being more adventurous and career-minded than females, Hong Kong men are
more willing to be deployed away from the hometown or cross the border to
seek jobs with promising prospects that the mainland's burgeoning economy
is able to provide.
The professional and management skills of many Hongkongers have given
them an edge in carving out their career there. The Closer Economic
Partnership Arrangement that is designed to help Hong Kong professionals
find business opportunities on the mainland has contributed in part to
this northward thrust of Hong Kong men.
One may argue that it does not matter whether the gender balance is
tipped since it is also a trend in Hong Kong, as well as in many other
parts of the world, for men and women, especially women, to stay single.
Government figures show that some 1.34 million Hong Kong women over the
age of 15 are not married. That constitutes 43 per cent of the female
local population.
But the fact that these women are not married does not mean they do not
need a male partner. Some do not want to be tied down legally by
marriage. Some want a sex partner but do not want to live with them.
What Hong Kong ladies have to do is to look further north - there are
some 650 million males on the other side of the border.
They can rest assured that education levels and financial conditions of
the average mainland man are improving. According to some mainland
economists, there are about 200 million people on the mainland satisfying
the definition of "middle class" - those who earn between 60,000 to
500,000 yuan a year. And the number will surge to 350 million in 10 years.
It is, therefore, not too difficult for Hong Kong ladies to find their
prince charming on the mainland if they do look a little harder.
In order to cash in on Hong Kong women's potential demand for mainland
spouses, it might be time for those with entrepreneurial spirit on either
side of the border to start investing heavily in the cross-border
match-making business.
This strategy is in keeping with the inevitable trend of Hong
Kong-mainland integration, though in a matrimonial, or carnal, sense.
E-mail: zouhr@chinadaily.com.hk
(China Daily 08/03/2007 page10)
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