One of the greatest fears of Chinese parents is coming true: China’s young people are turning away from marriage. The trend is also worrying the government.

　　中国家长们最担心的一个问题正在变成现实——中国的年轻人们正在远离婚姻。而这一趋势也使得政府备感忧虑。

　　After a whole decade of increases in the national marriage rate, China witnessed its second year of decline in the number of newly registered unions in 2015, with a 6.3% drop from 2014 and 9.1% from 2013. This was accompanied by a rise in the age of marriage, which has increased by about a year and a half in the first ten years of this century.

　　在整个国家结婚率经过整整十年的上升之后，2015年中国新注册夫妇的数量连续第二年下降，相比2014年下降了6.3%，相比2013年下降了9.1%。与之相伴的是结婚双方年龄的提高，本世纪头十年里，中国人第一次结婚时的年龄已经提高了1岁半。

　　The decline and delay of marriage in China is part of a global trend. The United States, most OECD nations, and Japan, have all undergone a similar process in recent years, as have other major Chinese societies. Hong Kong and Taiwan, for instance, both have much higher ages of first marriage than mainland China.

　　中国结婚率下降和推迟结婚是现象是全球趋势的一部分。美国、大多数经合组织国家、以及日本等近些年来都经历了类似的情况，就和中国其他地方一样。比如说，香港和台湾人们第一次结婚的年龄都要比大陆高得多。

　　But in a culture that puts great value on family, parents are alarmed by even the tiniest likelihood that their offspring will remain unmarried and childless. They fear the breaking of family lineage, or that there will be no one to look after their unmarried children when they’re gone.

　　但是在一个重视家庭的文化中，即使是面对后代可能不会结婚、或者不生育孩子的最小可能性，中国家长们也会非常担心。他们担心家庭会破裂，或是自己死去之后没人来照顾自己未婚的子女。

　　While the traditional practice of arranged marriage has been illegal in China since the 1950s, parents remain heavily involved in their children’s marital decisions. Many Chinese parents relentlessly try to persuade their children to enter wedlock through much-dreaded interrogations during festive family gatherings.

　　在中国，虽然传统的包办婚姻自从上世纪50年代以来就被认定为非法，中国家长们仍然在子女婚姻决定中有很大影响力。许多中国家长不屈不挠地说服自己子女结婚，比如在节日家庭聚会时“逼婚”等等。

　　Some go to “matchmaking corners” where parents gather to exchange information about their single children and arrange blind dates - often without the knowledge of or against the will of children themselves.

　　某些人会去“相亲角”，许多父母在这里交换自己单身子女的信息，并安排相亲——通常在子女不知情、或是违背他们意愿的情况下。

　　The Chinese government hasn’t sat idly by either. In 2007, the Ministry of Education publicly shamed women who were 27 years or older as “leftover women”, urging them to lower “unrealistic” standards during their search for a partner. While still alive and well in the public discourse to refer to both genders, the term “leftover” has been criticised by scholars and resisted by young women.

　　中国政府面的这一情况也没有坐视不管。2007年，教育部公开给27岁以上女性贴上了“剩女”的标签，敦促她们在寻找伴侣的过程中降低“不切实际”的标准。虽然这个词仍然被广泛使用、并且可以指代男女两性，但是许多学者和年轻女性还是对“剩女”一词表示了批评和拒绝。

　　In 2016, the government cancelled the extra seven-day honeymoon leave that had been granted to couples who married “late” (older than 25 years for men, and 23 years for women). The hope was that this would spur young people to marry (and eventually, bear children) as soon as possible.

　　2016年，中国政府取消了“晚婚”(男方25岁以上，女方23岁以上)夫妻专有的7天蜜月假期。这一举措是希望年轻人能够尽早结婚(并最终生育孩子)。