When women earn bread, men are leftover

（CRI Online）  09:49, March 15, 2013  

Over 30? Unmarried? Male? You would be labeled a "leftover man" or "shengnan" by most Chinese.

Today (March 14) marks White Valentine's Day, and a famous matchmaking website has issued a special survey on the marital status of China's leftover men, financial website eastmoney.com reports.

The survey indicates that the proportion of unmarried men is about double than that of women of a marriageable age, although single women are more eager to commit to marriage.

"The feudal thoughts like 'At 40, a man blossoms and a woman fades' and 'Man is as more charming as an elder' are the major reasons why women want to marry when they are young," Zhang Jiarui, an expert on marriage said.

China's census data indicate that educated women who earn a high salary tend to be single, while educated men who earn a high salary tend to be married.

Thirty percent of leftover men earn less than 2,000 yuan (US$320) a month, and as many as 49 percent cannot afford an apartment or car, according to the survey.