Chinese state-sponsored dating app expected to fight declining population
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Jiangxi province in eastern China developed a dating app in Guixi city, which has a population of 640,000, in an effort to boost marriage rates.
Called "Palm Guixi," the app was developed to make Jiangxi residents' dating experience easier by pairing single users based on background information that the app itself supplied.
Encouraging for marriage
As reported by The Guardian, the app is part of a statewide initiative to increase the marriage rate, which has fallen nationwide over the past decade.
Local governments in other areas of Jiangxi are planning live events to promote social interaction. In Gao'an city, over 100 young singles attended an event in Ruizhou Fuya park where they could dress up in traditional attire, play games and "become closer" to each other as they felt "the profoundness of Chinese culture."
A campaign against exorbitant "wedding prices" is one of the key tenets of the Jiangxi pilot. The government has recently opposed the custom of a prospective groom giving the bride's family money before marriage.
The "exaction of money or presents in conjunction with marriage" is forbidden by the nation's civil code. But, in actuality, the custom is still widespread, particularly in rural regions. At an average bride price of 380,000 yuan ($ 55,185.23), Jiangxi topped an unofficial national ranking of bride prices in 2022.
'Breed like pigs'
On the other hand, many users on Twitter's equivalent Weibo platform in China are against the state-supported matchmaking service. Saying that this is a reflection of Beijing's effort to increase birth rates, users wrote that the Chinese are expected to 'breed like pigs.'
According to the China Statistical Yearbook 2022, there were 11.6 million first-time marriages last year, nearly 700,000 less than the year before. This was significantly less than the 2013 peak of 23.9 million, reported South China Morning Post.
Birth rates, which last year hit a record low of 6.77 births per 1,000 people as the population declined for the first time in 60 years, are projected to continue to decline, mirroring this downward trend.
According to Dong Yuzheng, head of the Guangdong Population Development, young people are under increasing pressure in their personal lives and cannot afford the financial burden of marriage, which generally entails paying for a home and raising children.
Furthermore, while many Chinese parents still strongly encourage their kids to get married, Dong claims that young people actually enjoy the freedom of single life.
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