Introduction
In this introduction, I argue that singleness in contemporary China is not simply a demographic issue but a deeply moral one, shaped by cultural expectations surrounding marriage, gender, and filial responsibility. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, participant observation, and media analysis, I examine how unmarried men and women navigate a society in which marriage remains closely tied to virtue and personhood. I show that while both men and women experience pressure to marry, men are more likely to internalize singleness as a failure of masculinity and moral worth, whereas many women increasingly resist these expectations. Finally, I outline the theoretical framework, methodology, and organization of the dissertation, demonstrating how the chapters collectively explore the relationship between gender, morality, kinship, and the marriage economy in contemporary China.
Chapter 1: Expectations
“Good” Men and Ideal Chinese Masculinity
The first chapter of this dissertation examines cultural expectations for men. I begin by introducing Confucian ideas of virtue and the Chinese division of wen and wu masculinity, asking how these ideals shape whether a man is considered complete. Two case studies show how manhood can be claimed from opposite ends of the socioeconomic spectrum. Jason, a so-called “diamond bachelor,” demonstrates how wealth and education buffer the stigma of remaining single past 30. In contrast, the figure of the “Father of Eight” captures public admiration despite poverty and presumed lack of a wife, presenting another way of performing virtuous masculinity without traditional markers of marital success.
Chapter 2: Boogeymen
Bad Men and Unacceptable Masculinity Societies Greatest Threat and Why Men Need to be Paired
The second chapter turns to men who fail to meet these ideals and the cultural narrative that surrounds them. Here I trace the history of the term guanggun or “bare branch,” a derogatory label for men thought unlikely to ever marry, and show how it has evolved into a powerful “boogeyman-like” metaphor for deviance and danger in the social imagination. Drawing on media discourse, historical records, and interviews, the chapter shows how unvirtuous masculinity has been synonymous with bachelorhood. The chapter concludes with contemporary examples of men who struggle to find partners, including a case study of an older rural bachelor whose transgressive interactions highlight the social tension surrounding singleness.
Chapter 3: Businesses of Marriage (Part 1)
Match Makers and Marriage Markets: Parental-Facilitated Marriage-Assistance Industries
The third chapter shifts the focus to parents, who play a central role in sustaining marriage as a moral expectation within the family. If the first two chapters describe the broader cultural stakes, this chapter reveals how those ideals are enforced through parental intervention. It analyzes the re-emergence of matchmakers, the rise of marriage markets and related industries that frame singleness as a problem to be solved while (re)creating new opportunities for profit. Drawing on case studies of parents and professional marriage brokers, the chapter examines how families navigate a system that blends moral obligation with commercial enterprise and why many remain skeptical of the motives of those who profit from singleness.
Chapter 4: Businesses of Marriage (Part 2)
Self-Initiated Partnering Marriage-Assistance Industries
The fourth chapter continues the exploration of commercial interventions but looks at self-partnering services that bypass parental involvement. It investigates dating apps, blind 44 dating services, dating clubs, and mail-or-bride platforms that promise solutions but are rife with scams, financial exploitation, and unmet expectations. Through the case study of Jiang, a man who has tried nearly every option but still struggles to find a partner, the chapter highlights how these services reshape performances of masculinity. Jiang’s experiences illustrate how men internalize shame and anxiety when they cannot meet expectations of provision, protection, and procreation, showing that self-initiated partnering is embedded in larger cultural and commercial systems rather than being an individual pursuit.
Chapter 5: What Women Want
Male Singleness from the Perspective of the Gatekeepers
The fifth and final chapter centers women and their perspective on male singleness. As the ones who ultimately decide whether a bachelor becomes a husband, aka the “gatekeepers, women reveal different relationships to the cultural marriage mandate. While female singleness is also stigmatized, many women resist the idea that marriage is necessary for moral worth even as they reproduce the view that unmarried men pose a social threat. The chapter presents five case studies of women at different life stages to show how they evaluate potential partners, why many opt out of traditional pathways, and how their choices shape the persistence of bachelorhood.
Conclusion
What’s the Deal with Singleness in China?
Together, these five chapters show how while singleness in China is typically framed as a demographic concern, it is also reinforced by a narrative of singleness as a moral failing. Such perspective highlights how efforts to resolve the social problem of singleness are shaped by a deep lack of trust. Men of certain social classes and circumstances struggle to trust themselves to embody cultural ideals, parents mistrust commercial brokers and even their children's judgement, women distrust men as potential partners, and everyone questions the promises of industries that profit from their anxieties. This pervasive skepticism reveals that singleness is never just about being unmarried, but about contested claims to virtue, legitimacy and belonging in contemporary China.
Epilogue
Fake Eggs and Espionage
In this epilogue, I reflect on how my own experiences conducting fieldwork in China came to mirror the lives of the single people I studied. I describe how growing geopolitical tensions, pervasive surveillance, and cultural expectations surrounding marriage shaped the way others perceived me as an unmarried American woman, leading me to selectively perform a married identity to gain trust and avoid suspicion. By connecting these experiences to broader theories of moral surveillance and its resulting panopticon effect, I argue that both state monitoring and social pressure encourage individuals to conform to normative ideals through self-discipline. Ultimately, I conclude that the same systems of suspicion and moral judgment that governed my interlocutors' lives also transformed my own understanding of authenticity, belonging, and the costs of deviating from social expectations.
