Earlier this month, we shared a moving video that put a spotlight on what it's really like to be a single woman in China.
As we've reported before, women who enter their late 20s without getting married are often referred to as shengnu, or "leftover." They face immense pressure from family to find a match.
“People think that in Chinese society, an unmarried woman is incomplete," one woman in the video says.
The video, released as part of skin-care brand SK-ll's #ChangeDestiny campaign, touched a nerve — and went viral, garnering nearly 2 million views on YouTube.
Now, the company has released a new series of video interviews with three women featured in the campaign, which included a "takeover" of an open-air "marriage market" frequented by parents looking for spouses for their children. In the clips, the women and their parents get personal about what it's like to deal with the stigma of being single in your 20s and 30s in China, views on love and marriage, and how their lives have been changed by the campaign.
“They shouldn’t be called leftover girls. It’s just that they haven’t met their suitable other half. If they meet a suitable other half, they will be on the same path fast,” a mother of one of the women featured says in one of three new videos. “You cannot call them leftovers, because they’re not.”
Hear their stories below:
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