BEIJING - IF you are a non-Chinese man keen on marrying a Chinese, she is more likely to say 'bu' this year - and you can blame Lehman Brothers and its ilk for it.
A recent nationwide survey shows that since the financial storm struck, far fewer Chinese women are eager to marry a foreigner. They see rich capitalist societies, with their free-spending ways, as more prone to instability than China, according to the survey conducted from December to February by major Chinese matchmaking agency hongniang.com.
Now, they would rather have a local, 'prudent' husband, the survey found.
Only 16.8 per cent of the 4,377 Chinese women polled said 'yes' to the idea of marrying a foreigner. That was a drastic plunge from the 42.5 per cent of 6,594 polled in a similar survey early last year.
In contrast, 68 per cent of the respondents indicated preference for a local Chinese husband as compared with 58 per cent in the earlier one.
The English-language China Daily said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers last September caused this change of heart.
'This shows that with the impact of the financial crisis, women are more prudent in choosing a foreign partner, and the spending culture in Western countries worries them,' Ms Fang Fang, chief relationship consultant at Hongniang agency, told the newspaper.
'To a Chinese woman, a solid bank account promises real security, not an array of credit cards and easy loans - a belief shared too by most Chinese men,' Ms Fang was also quoted as saying on the website of the state-owned CN Radio.
The survey also shows that Chinese women willing to consider foreign husbands now prefer men in countries which are not the wealthiest but are less likely to be hit by financial turbulence.
Hence, Australia now tops a list among the women polled. Singapore rose from No. 6 to No. 4. The US fell from No. 2 before the storm to No. 5. Japan, once in fifth place, is off the list altogether.
Madam Wang Xingjuan, a counsellor in Beijing, told China Daily the shift is normal. 'Love is related to material life and people are just practical.'
