China ends 9-year decline in new marriages in 2023, but divorces also climb

“As the pandemic gradually ends, the wedding industry has rebounded significantly, and there was a hot wave of consumption during the 2023 Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays,” He said in a blog post on Saturday, referring to a spike in spending during the eight-day holiday break in September and October last year. Wedding-related spending … Read more

What China’s shrinking population means for the rest of the world

Why is this happening? Observers attributed China’s latest population decline to a wave of pandemic deaths early in 2023, after the world’s second largest economy abruptly dismantled its strict zero-COVID regime. Last year, overall deaths went up 6.6 per cent to 11.1 million, with the death rate reaching its highest level since 1974 during the Cultural … Read more