Marriage crisis Young Chinese reject subsidies and embrace the single life

The crowd is sweltering under a red and gold awning, but Granny Wang has them rapt. Packed into the space in front of the 62-year-old's small stage, and spilling onto wooden bleachers above, hundreds of people have gathered to hear Wang - real name Zhao Mei - play matchmaker to young men and women at a daily show in a theme park in Kaifeng, an ancient city in central China's Henan province.

- Amy Hawkins

Zhao has played the character of Granny Wang for eight years and introduced the matchmaking element of her show in 2023. Last year she went from having a few hundred thousand followers on Douyin, a Chinese social media app similar to TikTok, to more than 7 million, and has been called "China's Cilla Black", a reference to the late host of the British TV show Blind Date.

Most of the people in the audience are families looking for a way to entertain their children during the school holidays. But about one in five are looking for love.

Zhao has revived the character of the village matchmaker, a role that is going out of fashion now that many people meet online, through friends or, increasingly, not at all. While there is a growing "love industry" of matchmaking services from local governments and commercial enterprises alike, would-be cupids face an uphill battle in China's cities where the marriage market is increasingly being shunned altogether.

Despite Zhao's packed shows, China's marriage rates have plummeted to record lows. Last year, the number of registered marriages dropped by 20%, falling to just over 6m, down from 7.7m in 2023. Compared with a decade earlier, the annual number of couples tying the knot has halved.