China has millions of single men

To say that the women of China are in inferiority would be an understatement.

With 30 million men more than women more than women, one of the most populous countries in the world has a deluge of unattached men.

The chances are strongly stacked against them by finding a date, not to mention a woman – something that many feels constrained to do.

To worsen things, it is even more difficult if you come from a lower social class, according to Chinese dating coach Hao, who has more than 3,000 customers.

“Most of them are working class – they are the least likely to find wives,” he said.

We see this first hand in the Documentary of Violet du Feng, the game game, where we are looking at Hao and three of its customers throughout its a week’s dating camp.

All, including Hao, came from poor rural horizons, and were part of the generation that grew up after the 90s in China, when many parents left their toddlers with other family members, to go to work in cities.

This generation is now adult and goes to the cities themselves to try to find a woman and stimulate their status.

Feng, which is based in the United States, wants its film to highlight what life is for the young generations in its country of origin.

“At a time when sexual division is so extreme, especially in China, it is how we can fill a gap and create a dialogue,” she told the BBC.

The three customers of Hao – Li, 24, Wu, 27 and Zhou, 36 years old – fight against the consequences of Chinese policy.

Established by the government in 1980, when the population approached a billion, the policy was introduced in the midst of the fears that having too many people would affect the economic growth of the country.

But A traditional preference for male children has led to A large number of abandoned girls, placed in orphanages, selective sexual abortions or even cases of female infanticide. The result is a huge imbalance between the sexes.

China is now so concerned about its birth rate and its aging population that it ended the policy in 2016 and organizes regular twinning events.

Wu, Li and Zhou want Hao to help them find a girlfriend at least.

He is someone they can aspire to be, having already managed to find a woman, Wen, who is also a coach with meetings.

The men let Hao give them makeups and haircuts, while he tells them his questionable “techniques” to attract women – online and in person.

But while everyone does their best, everything is not going as expected.

Hao builds an online image for each man, but he stretches some borders in the way he describes them, and Zhou thinks that it is “false”.

“I feel guilty of deceiving others,” he said, clearly uncomfortable to be portrayed as someone he cannot match in reality.

Feng thinks that it is a wider problem.

“It is a story of unique China, but it is also a universal story of the way in this digital landscape, we all have trouble and we fight with the price of being false in the digital world, then the cost that we must pay to be authentic and honest,” she said.

Hao is perhaps one of the “most popular dating coaches in China, but we see his wife questioning some of his methods.

Without being discouraged, he sends his producers to meet women, spraying their armpits with deodorant, declaring: “It’s Showtime!”

Men must tackle potential dates in a night shopping center charged in Chongqing, one of the largest cities in the world.

It is almost painful to look at while they ask women to connect via the WeChat messaging application.

But it taught them to dig into their inner trust, which, so far, has been hidden in sight.

Dr. Zheng Mu, from the Sociology Department of the National University of Singapore, tells the BBC how the pressure to get married can have an impact on single men.

“In China, marriage or capacity, financially and socially, to get married as the main family support, is still largely expected from men,” she said.

“Consequently, the difficulty of being considered marble can be a social stigma, indicating that they are not capable and deserve the role, which leads to great pressures and to mental strains.”

Zhou is discouraged on the quantity of dates that the dates cost him, in particular by paying for mariners, dinner and new clothes.

“I only earn $ 600 (£ 440) per month,” he said, noting that a date costs around $ 300.

“In the end, our fate is determined by the company,” he adds, deciding that he must “build my status”.

FENG explains: “This is a generation in which many of these surpluses are defined as failures because of their economic status.

“They are considered to be the bottom of the company, the working class, and therefore to marry in a way is another indicator that they can succeed.”

We learn that a way for men in China to “break the social class” is to join the army and see a major recruitment report take place in the film.

The film does not explore in particular what life for homosexuals in China looks like.

Feng is suitable that the company Chines accepts less homosexuals, while Dr. Mu adds: “In China, heteronormativity is largely adjusted.

“Consequently, men should marry women to meet standards … to support the nuclear family and develop it in larger families by becoming parents.”

Technology is also in the documentary, which explores the growing popularity of virtual friends, saying that more than 10 million women in China are playing online dating games.

We can even see a virtual boyfriend in action – he understands, shortly and undeniably beautiful.

A woman says that real dating costs “time, money, emotional energy – it’s so exhausting”.

She adds that “virtual men are different – they have large temperaments, they are simply perfect”.

Dr. MU considers this trend as “indicative of social problems” in China, citing “long hours of work, a gourmet work culture and a competitive environment, as well as expectations of rooted gender roles”.

“Virtual boyfriends, who can behave better aligned with the expected ideals of women, can be a way for them to realize their romantic imagination.”

Feng adds: “The universally mentioned thing is that women with virtual friends have felt that men in China are not emotionally stable.”

His hollow film in the history of men, including their often fractured relationships with their parents and families.

“These men come, and there is so much negative pressure on them – how could you expect them to be emotionally stable?”

Reuters reported last year This “unique long -term lifestyle is gradually becoming more widespread in China”.

“I am concerned about the way we connect with each other, especially of the young generation,” explains Feng.

“Dating is just a device to tell us about it. But I am really worried.

“My film is on the way we live in this solitude epidemic, with us all trying to find links with each other.”

Thus, at the end of the documentary, which has many comic moments, we see that it was a realistic journey of self -discovery for all men, including Hao.

“I think it is the heat because they are, knowing that it is a collective crisis with which they are all confronted, and how they always find hope,” explains Feng.

“For them, it is more a question of meeting and finding someone to tap your shoulders, saying:” I see you, and there is a way to do it “.”

Screen Daily’s Allan Hunter says The film is “supported by humanity that Feng finds in each of the individuals we learn and understand a little better”, adding it “finally salutes the virtue of being faithful to yourself”.

Hao concludes: “Once you love yourself, it’s easier to bring girls to love you.”

The game game is in some British cinemas this fall.