Editor's note: November 11 is Singles' Day in China, but what was originally a celebration of unmarried life has become a time of despair for people who are desperate to find love.
Until this time last year, Su Yunmin met twice a month with three friends she's known since kindergarten, just like the four characters in the popular US television series Mistresses.
Now, though, the frequency of their gatherings has fallen to once every other month because Su, an assistant manager at a real estate company in Changchun, Jilin province, has told her friends that she's extremely busy at work.
However, that was just an excuse. The real reason she has cut back on meeting her married friends is that as a single 30-something woman, Su was bored with their habitual topics of conversation: their children and their mothers-in-law.
"Every time they were in high spirits－for example, discussing which of them has the worst mother-in-law－and I interjected a few words, they would suddenly remember my single existence and make statements designed to scare me, including telling me that I will have to marry an old, divorced guy with children if I don't find a boyfriend soon," she said.
"Every time I came back from those gatherings, I would see my illusions like a withered rose in the mirror. I'm not bad looking, I have a stable job and a comparatively good income, so why am I still alone? I often ask myself that question.
"I usually volunteer to work during holidays because it's really embarrassing for this 'old single woman' to have to face so many relatives, especially during the Lunar New Year."
Su may be single, but she certainly isn't alone. She's just one of the tens of thousands of single people in China who are having difficulty finding a spouse.
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Editor's note: November 11 is Singles' Day in China, but what was originally a celebration of unmarried life has become a time of despair for people who are desperate to find love.
