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Excess Wealthy Single Ladies in Hong Kong: Heaven for Single Men

Hong Kong, one of the financial centers in Asia, has a unique problem.  It has excess wealthy single ladies.  Many of the single ladies in Hong Kong have white collar jobs and are financially independent.  Most of them range in age from 25 to 44. There are now 907 men for every 1,000 members of this age group, but the disparity will increase to 664 men for every 1,000 women by 2036. They are now looking for husbands in the United States. Heaven for single men? You bet!

by Samuel Chong
December 4, 2009

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Los Angeles, California.: Hong Kong, the most dynamic financial and trade center of Asia, has a unique phenomenon.  It has excess wealthy single ladies aging from 25 to 44.  It is so unique that some of the online dating sites and traditional matchmaking services in Hong Kong have been actively looking for qualified men in the United States.  Single men in Los Angeles and the Bay Area are just some of the choices that they are considering.  The wealthy single women in Hong Kong are career minded, financially independent while preserving traditional Asian value.  It sounds so perfect, but why such phenomenon exists?

To start with, the population of Hong Kong consists of more women than men, like any other major cosmopolitan city. Then there are more than three hundred thousand foreign domestic maids there who make it a mission to capture local husbands, not to mention those Hong Kong men who prefer to look northwards in China for wives (and/or mistresses).

The wealthy Hong Kong single ladies are educated, financially secure, and they are more independent than some of the women in mainland China.  Thus, a Chinese man with very traditional values might have difficulties accepting a wife who is just as educated or capable and earns just as much as he does if not more . He might feel his position as head of the family being challenged, and his manhood threatened . In traditional Chinese culture, for women at least, "less is more" - women with less (education, financial resources) seem to have better chances of finding husbands.

Though not all Chinese men think like that (the author, married to an educated lady who is more capable than him, is one of the exceptions), the majority of them do think this way. This is why many Hong Kong men prefer marrying more submissive women from mainland China than their locals.

It has become such a big problem that even the commissioner for census and statistics in Hong Kong advised Hong Kong women to "find their Mr Right" on the mainland - where, because of China's one-child policy and a patrilineal preference for boys, men outnumber women by a ratio of 119:100.

However, Hong Kong women, being far better educated and more independent than their mainland counterparts, are less likely to want to be bossed around by their mainland patriarchal husbands who hold traditional Chinese values.  Moreover, many of them are financially independent and no longer think of marriage in terms of economic security (thus do not need financial help from men in the mainland). A rising divorce rate can probably also be attributed to the growing assertiveness of Hong Kong women.

Some Hong Kong women also feel pressured if they were to marry someone from mainland China, in which the parents of the Hong Kong women might feel that he has a lower social status. The language barrier, as most people in Hong Kong speak Cantonese instead of Mandarin, the language of the mainland, could be another issue.

While the environment in Hong Kong allows many Hong Kong women to live happily and stay single instead of being submissive to someone, many of the wealthy Hong Kong single ladies still want to get married.  Some Hong Kong based online dating sites and traditional matchmaking agencies have been actively seeking qualified men in Hong Kong and abroad.  Los Angeles and Bay Area of the United States are their primary targets for luring qualified men.

"If I meet a person who shares my interests, beliefs, goals and vision in life, I would marry him", says a single lady in Hong Kong.

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This article can also be found at http://www.certifiedchinesetranslation.com/09/1204-Wealthy-Single-Ladies-Heaven-For-Men.html