Today's Article (7/11/2025)
Single mothers in China find a new kind of partner – other single mothers
There are an estimated 30 million single mothers in China. Divorce rates are about four times higher than they were 20 years ago, despite government efforts to discourage it, and mothers take custody in more than 80% of family breakdowns. There are legal obligations around child support, but a significant proportion of single-mother families in first-tier cities live below the poverty line, according to government data.
Across social media are posts from harried mothers seeking like-minded parents to share a home and child-rearing responsibilities.
Dr Ye Liu, an expert in international development at King’s College London, says “single mothers across all social strata struggle financially”, further affected by a lack of state welfare for single parents and a lack of adequate support from kin.
“This current reliance on ad-hoc, digitally organised support highlights a major failure in the state’s welfare provision for safeguarding children and supporting parents,” Liu says.