外媒：高房價讓男友們變成了單身漢

　　Mike Zhang considered himself serious boyfriend material. He knewwhat to order at an Italian restaurant. He could mix a tasty margaritaand always volunteered to carry his girlfriend"s handbag. Then came thedeal breaker。

　　Zhang, a 28-year-old language tutor and interpreter, couldn"tafford an apartment in the capital"s scorching property market. Ratherthan waste any more time, his girlfriend of more than two years dumpedhim. Zhang"s misfortune is not uncommon. China"s housing boom hascreated a woefully frustrated class of bachelors。

　　Unlike in the United States, where home buying traditionally takesplace after marriage, owning a place in China has recently become aprerequisite for tying the knot. Experts said securing an apartment inthis market signals that a man is successful, family-oriented and ableto weather challenging financial circumstances. Put succinctly,homeownership has become the ultimate symbol of virility in today"sChina。

　　Chen Xiaomin, director of the Women"s Studies Center at theShanghai University of Political Science and Law, said:"Marriage isbecoming more and more materialistic. No matter how confident a womanis, she will lose face if her boyfriend or husband doesn"t have ahouse."

　　Dating websites are now awash with women stipulating that hopefulsmust come with a residence in tow. "I"m 25 years old, looking for aboyfriend. I want you to have an apartment and a car. The apartment hasto be built after 2000 and the car has to be better than a minivan,"read one post on a popular Chinese Web portal。

　　Material matters weren"t quite so important when previousgenerations courted. Most Chinese were poor. Property was controlled bythe state. But economic reform and mass urbanization in the last 30years have upended these norms. Young Chinese are coming of age at atime of exploding wealth and rising expectations for material success.In a survey last year, 73% of respondents said homeownership was anecessity for marriage. An almost equal percentage said they haddifficulty buying an apartment。

　　Though more women are becoming career oriented, China remainsstubbornly traditional. Males are expected to be breadwinners. WangHaijun, a real estate agent on Beijing"s east side, said he can alwaystell when a desperate bachelor walks into his office. "They"re alwaysthe least rational buyers. They don"t care how little money they have.They just want an apartment as soon as possible. They take on a mortgagewith the longest terms and highest interest rates. But they have nochoice. They have to get married. I feel sorry for them," said Wang。

　　美國《洛杉磯時報》6月21日文章：房產熱潮成單身漢煩惱來源。 邁克?張(音)認為自己是塊做男朋友的料，他知道在義大利餐廳點什麼菜，懂得如何調出一杯好酒，主動幫女朋友拎包。但不容通融的問題還是來了。

　　這位28歲的老師兼翻譯在北京火熱的房地產市場上買不起房。於是，交往了兩年多的女友決定不再浪費時間，離他而去。張所遭遇的這種不幸並不少見，中國房產熱潮造就了一個失落的單身漢階層。

　　與傳統上婚後買房的美國不同，擁有住房近來成為在中國結婚的先決條件。擁有一套住房意味著男人成功、注重家庭，並能夠經受財政問題的挑戰。簡單地說，住房已成為當今中國男人氣概的終極象徵。

　　上海政法學院女性研究中心主任陳曉敏說：「婚姻正在變得越來越現實。無論一個女性如何自信，如果她的男友或丈夫沒住房，她就會丟面子。」

　　在約會網站上，大量女性都提出交往對象要有住房。中國某門戶網站一個帖子這樣寫道：「本人25歲，覓男友，希望你有一套住房和一輛汽車。房子必須是2000年以後蓋的，汽車必須要比小貨車高檔。」

　　在上一代人的婚姻中，物質條件沒這麼重要。大多數中國人都很窮，住房由國家控制。但過去30年的經濟改革和大規模城市化顛覆了這些。年輕的中國人處於一個財富激增、對物質成功的期望不斷攀升的時代。去年一次調查中，73%的受訪者認為房子是結婚必需品，但也有相同比例的人說買不起房。

　　儘管越來越多的女性就業，中國仍保持著「男性養家糊口」的傳統。北京的房產中介王海軍(音)說，他總能分辨出走進來的單身漢，「他們通常是最不理智的買家，不關心自己有多少錢，只想儘快擁有一套住房，辦的是期限最長、利率最高的貸款。但他們別無選擇。他們得結婚。我感到非常非常遺憾。」

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