Single Chinese want to find love, but remain straitjacketed by expectations of what their partners should look like.

Synopsis: Every first Friday of the month, The Straits Times catches up with its foreign correspondents about life and trends in the countries they're based in.

Inequality is at play in China’s singles market in more ways than one.

In China, the number of men outstrip that of women, and yet, they find it far easier to find marriage partners.

At the same time, both genders are trapped by familial and their own expectations to marry within the same social bracket, in the face of a growing divide between the elites and the broader generation.