Chinese women's marriage criteria,logical search for a mate

72% of women consider housing as a key requirement for a marriage partner, says the latest report of the Chinese Marriage Status Survey 2014, issued by China’s leading marriage service provider Baihe.com on Jan.11, 2015.

Researchers collected the results of 73,215 online questionnaires and held in-depth off-line interviews with 200 single men and women from 34 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

Why still single?

The report shows that 63% of single men and women spend an average of more than six hours alone on their rest days; and 32% spend more than 10 hours alone. Surfing the internet, hanging out with friends, and just “quietly” staying at home have become the top three activities for single people.

32% of single women follow TV dramas while 67% of men scan websites, killing their private time at home.

The report concludes that the main reasons for remaining single is too much time spent alone - too few social contacts is the top obstacle to meeting the right person. 80% of single women report this.

Gender differences in marriage requirements

Nowadays, love is no longer the only passport for two people to enter marriage. The report says that more than 40% of single men and women are only willing to get married with a person in a suitable situation. People are becoming ever more rational and realistic when choosing their spouses.

The top three concerns for single men are appearance, physical health, and emotional experience. Single women attach more importance to a partner’s financial situation, physical health, and career.

33% of single men and 27% of single women have experienced interference from parents in their relationships.

Focus on housing

The report shows that 71% of women view housing as a key requirement for a potential marriage partner. 18% of women counted car ownership as one of the basic requirements, a rise of 9% compared with 2012. Both men and women said that a stable income and some savings were important factors.

Nearly 60 percent of women do not intend to have a second child, according to the report, although China has relaxed its birth control policy to allow couples to have a second child if either parent is an only child.

The report also shows that 33% of women think that Chinese men do not deserve Chinese women, in terms of "self-accomplishments and ability to care for themselves." - (People's Daily Online)

The logical search for a mate

‘Love’ takes a back seat when seeking prospective life partners

LOVE is not the only criterion for marriage in China. A recent survey shows that more than 40% of Chinese look to marry someone who suits them in appearance, educational background, social status, income and other characteristics.

Baihe.com, a major dating portal in China, released its 2014 Chinese Marriage Status Survey Report on Sunday.

The site has tracked marriage trends in the country since 2007.

The latest results show that 44.4% of male and 49.7% of female respondents said the reasons for their choice of a marriage partner include their prospective mate’s coming from a family of equal social rank.

“This means people are much more rational when it comes to the marriage decision,” the report said.

“They would like to match each other under every single standard. Love is no longer the only pass.”

The report also said that more than 70% of female respondents said they would consider marriage only if the male partner owns property.

And more than 70% of the women hoped their future husband’s income would be double their own.

Zhou Xiaopeng, the chief marriage consultant at Baihe.com, characterised the phenomenon as “supermarket marriage”, where people come with “money in hand” and want to select the best “products” after shopping around.

Tu Ying, a researcher at the portal, said that seeking a partner with quantifiable requirements is efficient.

“In everyday life, it is more and more difficult to find the right person and get to know him or her – not to mention the cost it comes with,” Tu said. “If people start with quantifiable standards, and then develop their relationship based on that, it is more likely to be a stable relationship.

“Starting marriage with money cannot guarantee stability from the beginning.

“Every relationship needs cultivation from each side.”

Zhou Xiaozheng, a professor of sociology at Renmin University of China, attributes the new approach to marriage choices to changes in society.

“Chinese people’s view of choosing a mate has undergone many changes,” Zhou said.

“In the past, marriage was arranged by parents, which reflected the will of family or country. Then it became a personal choice, or socalled love choice. And now it is more related to material standards, or what we call materialism in marriage.”

“This is simply because people live in a materialistic world: A couple needs an apartment to live in, which costs a lot; the couple needs to find a good school for their children, which costs a lot; the couple who live far away from their parents need to find a way to support them, which also costs a lot,” Zhou said. “It is a vicious circle.”

Zhou said to reverse the materialistic trend, the country needs to continue its anti-corruption campaign and improve social welfare, and young people need to know that money is not the solution to everything. - China Daily/Asia News Network

Will shale oil survive the price fall?

American shale oil enterprise WBH Energy filed for bankruptcy on January 4, 2015. This could be the beginning of a shakeout of shale oil enterprises. Since 2010, the debt of America's energy enterprises has increased 55 percent; meanwhile, the energy sector of S&P 1500 index has dropped rapidly. The shale oil revolution has not only been stricken by the low oil price, but also "abandoned" by investors. As liquidity runs short, small and medium-sized shale oil enterprises will either go bankrupt or be taken over if they survive the oil price crisis.

The reason for the oil price slump is becoming clearer: oversupply. However, since oil producers will not reduce output, the downward trend continues. Canadian heavy crude has dropped below 35 USD, a new low since February 2009. In the past six months, the price has fallen by 60 percent. We can say that the shale oil revolution is being blocked by the low oil price - in other words, it is being hindered by OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), principally represented by Saudi Arabia. When the oil price dropped below 50 USD, OPEC had a meeting seeking consensus on maintaining oil output. The average production cost of OPEC is about 40 USD, while the cost of shale oil is above 60 USD. As long as the price is above 40 USD, OPEC can still make profit, but the shale oil enterprises will be squeezed out.

At the end of 2014, in order to exploit the market for US oil producers, the US Department of Commerce lifted the ban on the export of condensate oil. The US has ended its 40-year oil export ban to join in competition with the other oil producers, which means that on the one hand the US has become an international oil producer, while on the other hand shale oil has had a huge impact on the world energy structure, and the world oil market has excess production capacity. For the US, shale oil has provided a new economic growth point and provided additional chips when competing with other oil producing countries. Therefore, the US government will offer necessary supports to shale oil enterprises. However, the market cannot be easily manipulated by one or two countries. The US wanted a moderate drop in the oil price, which would stimulate its economy as well as "fix" those insubordinate oil producing countries. But the downward trend of the oil price has been irresistible, and now threatens the survival of the American shale oil industry.

Faced with the falling oil price, shale oil enterprises, with their relatively high production costs, have entered a crucial phase of life and death. Unless all the oil producing countries join hands to limit production and achieve a rebalancing of supply and demand, the oil price will not rebound in the short term. Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf countries blame the oil price crisis on the irresponsible behavior of non-OPEC oil producing countries, which in fact targets the shale oil producers.

TThe new energy industry is suffering under the impact of the falling oil price too. The stock price of electric vehicle producer Tesla is also in a slump. But for the shale oil enterprises, this is an issue of life or death. - (People's Daily Online)

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Success factors: higher education, right skills and knowledge

Young people are aware that career success is only possible if they pursue higher studies and are armed with the right skills and knowledge.

AS the demand for highly skilled and knowledgeable workers intensifies in the knowledge-based economy, so does the demand for higher education.

Indeed, higher education plays an increasingly significant role in this dynamic and integrated world economy.

There is much evidence in research literature that show the positive correlation between higher education and economic development.

In addition, pursuing higher education is seen as an important pathway to career success. However, as tertiary studies become more accessible to the masses, there are concerns on the value of higher education.

Based on the classification of the Education Ministry, the higher education sector in Malaysia consists primarily of universities, university colleges, colleges, polytechnics and community colleges.

An online survey was conducted recently where 298 respondents participated. More than 80% of the respondents were students in public and private higher education institutions in Malaysia while the rest were random respondents.

The data from this survey was collected through the UTAR (Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman) Opinion Poll (http://poll.utar.edu.my/), an online platform developed by the varsity to collect public opinion on current issues, particularly issues faced by youth in the country.

Seeking jobs

The survey revealed that the two reason for pursuing a university or college education were to get a decent job and earn a higher salary.

The value of higher education in providing access to improved jobs, better earnings and career prospects is an important driving force for people to invest in higher education.

Other important values of higher education as highlighted in the survey include promoting social mobility and gaining self-fulfilment.

In the survey, when respondents were asked about what kind of knowledge should be emphasised and delivered by higher education, students and non-student respondents gave somewhat different feedback.

Student respondents placed great emphasis on the provision of professional knowledge that would prepare them with the information and knowledge required for a professional career while career-related knowledge came in second.

For non-student respondents (consisting of respondents working in different professions and 67% of them have a degree), they are of the opinion that higher education should firstly prepare students for good citizenship and to be well-versed in general knowledge.

This was then followed by the preparation for a professional career and a job.

The survey also revealed that vocational or technical knowledge to prepare students with technical skills has not been seen as a priority for higher education.

Due to the burgeoning number of higher education institutions, particularly private higher education institutions in the country since the introduction of the Private Higher Educational Institutions Act in 1996, higher education has changed from a social institution to an industry and is increasingly perceived as a profit-making industry.

About 75% of the respondents felt that higher education was becoming “commercialised” and profit-oriented, thus creating the varying standards of higher education institutions, and the programmes offered in the country.

The diverse quality has somehow contributed to the diminishing value of a higher education degree.

It has also led to the distorting job market signalling effect of an academic degree in the employment market.

Hence, more efforts in screening and filtering are required during recruitment to help employers hire the right candidate with the relevant requirements.

In order to ensure the quality of higher education in the country, it is crucial for the authorities to develop a reliable and effective mechanism to closely monitor and assess the quality of teaching and learning in higher education institutions in Malaysia.

“Too-examination oriented” is the general perception of the respondents (78.3%t) on the current higher education system in Malaysia.

This is associated with the feedback that higher education institutions should provide more practical training opportunities and industry exposure to students.

The curriculum design should consider incorporating innovative teaching and learning methods. This would include problem-based learning, project-based assignments, case studies or experiential learning, rather than the traditional lecture-based method.

Internship is found to be an effective way for students to gain hands-on learning experience.

Non-student respondents were asked to give comments and their perception on the performance of students in the higher education institutions.

The majority of them (80.6%) felt that our students are lacking in international exposure.

It would be a disadvantage if we are not preparing our students and equipping them with global competence skills to compete in the global economy.

International internships.

Many universities around the world, particularly universities in Europe and North America, have incorporated into their curriculum at least one semester of study abroad or international internships.

Compared to these universities, we are lagging behind in this aspect.

Higher education institutions in Malaysia should participate more actively in internationalisation initiatives, particularly international student exchange programmes to provide students the opportunity to acquire global experience during their studies.

Another major comment is related to students’ lack of good communication skills.

In fact, this is not a new finding. We often read reports or hear comments about the inadequacies of our students in communication skills.

It is not so much of a language barrier, but more related to the capability to express and deliver one’s idea and messages clearly and correctly.

Interestingly, when student respondents were asked to reveal what skills they acquired in university or college, communication skills topped the list as the skills most acquired.

This is something that needs further investigation.

The higher education system is undergoing dramatic changes due to many underlying factors, particularly technology innovation, emergence of knowledge economy, shifting demographics and globalisation.

The role and value of higher education has somehow changed as well.

It is important for us to review the best practices to prepare students to succeed in the increasingly dynamic world and to produce the “right” knowledge workers for society.

This article sheds light on some of the issues in Malaysian higher education as perceived by students and general respondents.

By Prof Cheng Ming Yu The Star/Asia News Network

The writer is a Professor at the Department of Economics, Faculty of Accountancy and Management at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman. This is the final article in a series of STEM for life-themed articles published in our pullout.

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