Hundreds of millions of Chinese will travel or are already on their way back home for the Spring Festival family reunion. But many people of marriageable age, called "leftover" men and women, may not do so because they don't want to be forced into marriage by their parents and relatives, which reflects a new form of generation gap, says an article in People's Daily. Excerpts:

For most parents, their children's real happiness starts with their marriage. So they take advantage of Spring Festival to ask their marriage-age children about their love life and arrange for blind dates. But many youths cannot comprehend how their parents can talk about their private matters with others.

Most of the youths, from the late 20s to the early 30s, are the only child of their parents and thus share a closer relationship with them than their predecessors. At a time when family ties, social ethics and inter-generational relationship are undergoing change, the younger generation's desire for freedom and more privacy is in sharp contrast to the needs of their parents when they were young.

The contradiction between "leftover" men and women and their families, therefore, seems to have been blown out of proportion during Spring Festival.

The psychological distance between parents and children in general has widened. Youths have the right to remain single. But their parents think it is an insult to have a son or daughter of marriageable age who cannot find a spouse. In today's material society, one's profession, family background, house, income, and height and appearance play the deciding roles in finding a life partner; love seems to take a back seat in deciding a person's fate.

People are focusing on the material condition of the opposite gender to choose their life partners because it has become very difficult for most people to make it big alone. That's why the young generation is looking forward to the new round of reforms which are likely to offer youths more opportunities to realize their dreams.