Domestic Affairs

Housing and marriage

By Huang Shuo (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-12-23 14:35

Is it necessary for a young man to have an apartment as a prerequisite for marriage? Yes. In China, which is following its own unique development path different from other developing countries in the world, becoming a husband is not such an easy thing. China may breed a new group of bachelors suffering from unaffordable housing prices.

The housing industry has once again become a "hot pot" at boiling point since early 2009. Even with subsidies and special government policies, home prices in China's first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai are riding the wave of a rising trend along with the fast growing economy rebounding from the downturn during the international financial crisis in 2008. In the new "common sense" of China, housing issue trumps marriage, becoming a major obstacle for young men to starting a family.

No house, no marriage?

According to the "Survey Report Chinese Marriage Status of 2010" jointly disclosed on Dec 15, 2010, by the China Association of Marriage and Family Studies, the Committee of Matchmaking Service Industries under the China Association of Social Workers, and China's leading marriage service provider Baihe.com, about 70 percent of women interviewed said that housing, stable income and some savings were the main requirements for marriage. From the report, we can see that housing is in the priority position of the factors. Even the few "feminine extremists" believe an apartment is the standard of judgment in whether the male can be responsible and provide for his family.

Personality and morals lay beyond the top three matrimonial requirements. Some women and their families hold the traditional position and take it for granted that the home issue should be the male responsibility for marriage, which defies the contemporary independent spirit of women and gender equality, which are universal values. The distorted value of marriage in China reflects the fact that many women consider marriage as another form of "social welfare."

Overseas

Things may be different overseas. Realty has always been an issue for people in Europe, but governments there have come up with a series of tough measures to regulate property markets in order to deal with the problem properly and maintain sustainable societies, such as collecting property taxes. Owners, buyers and renters are all required to pay annual taxes.

In addition, "social housing," similar to China's affordable housing, provided by European authorities as welfare for low- and middle-income groups, can offer ordinary people their own piece of real estate. Such housing is usually modest-size apartments in tall buildings with 10 or more floors on the outskirts of town, whose main advantage is the low rents.

For many Americans, houses don't pose an obstacle to getting married. They often buy a house after the wedding, because more and more people are reconsidering their real estate worship, and going back to a more rational mode of consumption.

In Japan, renting has been the custom for newly married young couples. Few can afford to purchase property. Up to 67.1 percent of young couples choose to rent, and merely 14.3 percent of the group bought their own house for marriages, according to data from RECRUIT Co Ltd, headquartered in Tokyo. Generally speaking, renters account for most people younger than 40 in Japan.

Above all, young people should be free to enjoy being young, without the huge pressure of trying to buy property. Society should help create an environment for them to grow up. Don't let the poor bachelor group become a suffering layer of our society.

The author can be reached at larryhuangshuo@gmail.com.