|
It’s been reported that Chinese youth are avoiding marriage this year due to the superstition of it being a “widow year.”
According to the Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 5th, a citizen posted on the public opinion column of the Chinese central administrative agency, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, on the 11th of last month, arguing that the “widow year” is seriously deviated from common sense and science. As the controversy over the ‘]”widow year” arose from this post, the Ministry of Civil Affairs stated that they are paying attention to this issue.
The year, which the Chinese call a “widow year,” refers to a “year without spring.” They believe that if the beginning of spring, according to the lunar calendar, comes earlier than the Lunar New Year, there is no beginning of spring after the New Year, and thus it’s a year without spring. This year, the beginning of spring (February 4) came earlier than the Lunar New Year (February 10), making it a year without spring.
The reason why Chinese people avoid getting married in the “widow year” is due to the superstition that if they marry during this time, the husband will die early.
There’s also a superstition that “there are no children in the year without spring,” as the start of spring is associated with fertility.
The media explained, “In China, spring is believed to be the time of the year when life energy is most abundant, so it’s believed to be unlucky to marry in a year without spring.”
In fact, it seems that a sense of anxiety has been created among young Chinese people due to the superstition. Since the end of last year, many posts expressing anxiety from young people have been uploaded to Chinese social networking services (SNS). There was even a marriage boom during the week of National Day (September 29 to October 6) last year to avoid getting married this year.
In response, China’s state-run CCTV reported last week that there’s no relation between the “year without spring” and bad luck, trying to alleviate the anxiety. In the report, CCTV stated, “Lunar years without the beginning of spring are not uncommon” and “There were no beginnings of spring in the lunar years of 2019 and 2021 as well.”
The reason why the Chinese authorities are paying attention to the “widow year,” which has been dismissed as a superstition, is due to the recent drastic decline in the total population. The Chinese population has decreased for two consecutive years in 2022 and last year, recently giving up the world’s most populous country to India. The number of newborns fell below 10 million for two consecutive years, resulting in a decrease in the total population. The number of marriages in China has also been nearly halved, from 13.47 million in 2013 to 6.83 million in 2022.
Most Commented