In the not so distant past, the growing trend of Hong Kong men coming to the mainland China to find their brides or Hong Kong women going to the mainland to marry was relatively unheard of. Recently, that trend was reversed as more local women marry mainland men and fewer Hong Kong men marry mainland women. Data released by government statistics showed 2,599 women from the city married mainland men in 2009. This figure is slightly higher than the 2,409 in 2008 and 2,490 in 2007. Local men who married mainland women reached 13,751 last year, lower than those recorded in 2007 (15,978), 2008 (14,206) and a 24 percent decrease compared to 2006 data (18,182).
Such a trend is open to a lot of intepretation. Is it easier for Hong Kong men to find partners in the city? Are Hong Kong women less picky now than before? Are mainland women becoming more scarce as the impact of China’s one-child policy is taking effect? Or is it because there is a growing gender disparity in Hong Kong?
Last year, there were 3.3 million men and 3.7 million women in Hong Kong, or 889 men for every 1,000 women. (Of course, only a small portion of these figures belong to the marrying population). The gap has grown from 956 to 1000 in 2001 and 912 to 1000 in 2006.
Those who believe in the importance of marriage can rejoice – the number of marriages in 2009 was 51,175 a record number that is an eight percent improvement from 47,000 in 2008.
