China’s Civil Affairs College introduced a brand new undergraduate program on marriage to develop marriage-related industries and tradition, drawing scorn from social media customers who questioned the necessity for such a course as marriage charges decline.
This system, which can start in September, goals to “practice professionals to develop industries and cultures associated to marriage,” state media reported this week.
Policymakers are struggling to show the scenario round The decline in new birthsthat are carefully linked to marriage charges, after China’s inhabitants fell for a second consecutive yr in 2023.
Marriage is taken into account a prerequisite for having youngsters attributable to widespread insurance policies, together with one which requires mother and father to current a wedding certificates to register the infant and obtain advantages. Single ladies and LGBTQ {couples} should not have the identical rights.
The brand new program, known as Marriage Providers and Administration, will give attention to creating the wedding trade, “aiming to focus on China’s optimistic marriage and household tradition to college students and the general public and promote the reform of China’s marriage customs,” the World Occasions stated.
The college will enroll 70 college students from 12 provinces this yr in fields together with “household counseling, high-end wedding ceremony planning and matchmaking product improvement.”
Some customers on Chinese language social media platform Weibo ridiculed the announcement, with one writing: “It is time to begin a state-run marriage company.”
Others questioned the necessity for such a level. “This trade isn’t just a sundown, it’s doomsday,” wrote one, whereas one other commented that “Learning this specialty is definitely unemployment after commencement.”
Whereas the variety of new marriages in China rose 12.4 p.c in 2023 from the earlier yr, reversing a downward development that has lasted practically a decade, demographers warn that this was extra attributable to delayed nuptials following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Many younger persons are selecting to stay single or postpone marriage due to poor job prospects and chronically low shopper confidence as progress on this planet’s second-largest financial system slows.
