年轻人遭遇“逼婚”Young People in China Faced with Marriage Pressure

The week-long Spring Festival has come to an end. Many young people in China have experienced awkward moments when sharing quality time with their parents and relatives. The question about marriage seems just inescapable around this time of year. "Bi Hun," which loosely translates to "arranged marriage," is a controversial subject as of late in China and has made the headlines of many media outlets.

一周的春节假期已经结束了，尽管跟父母亲戚在一起的机会很难得，很多年轻人还是难免在这期间经历好多尴尬的时刻。每年到这个时候，婚姻问题总是个绕不开的话题。“逼婚”最近成为了一个争议的话题，而且登上众多媒体的头版。

Single men and women get pressured during festival time in China. Forcing young people into marriage has become a new custom during the Chinese Luna New Year. Many unmarried youths are faced with the "harsh interrogation" from their relatives about why they are still unmarried.
当“逼婚”逐渐成为春节期间的一种习惯的时候，单身男女们都会感到压力，很多未婚的年轻人得面对来自亲朋好友关于“为什么还不结婚”的“拷问”。

Being married or not is no longer a private matter. Many Chinese parents hold the view that their children's real happiness starts with marriage.
结婚与否不再是一个私人问题。中国的父母们有这样的观点，他们觉得只有结婚了，他们的孩子才能开始真正的幸福。

Mrs. Lu, who lives in Beijing's Fangshan District, expressed her New Year wish: "I hope my daughter gets married. Since I can't be with her all the time, I hope there's someone out there who can take care of her in the future. That's my only wish for the New Year."
路（音译）女士住在北京的房山区，她的新年祝福是：“我希望我的女儿能（早点）结婚。因为我不能永远跟着她，所以我希望有个人将来能照顾她。这是我新年唯一的愿望。”

Chinese parents tend to try everything to persuade their daughters and sons to get married. Nothing scares them more than the fact that their children are still single past 30. For those who don't want to compromise with their parents, traveling away from home has become a way to escape the grilling from their relatives and nosey friends.
中国的父母们总是尽一切所能劝他们的儿女们结婚。没有什么比“年过三十仍然单身”更让他们觉得可怕。那些不想跟父母妥协的年轻人选择了离家去旅行，这也成为了逃离亲朋好友穷追不舍的一种方式。

On January 17th, a Chinese woman placed an ad in an Australian newspaper, the Chinese Melbourne Daily, saying she will never try to force her son into marriage, asking him to just come back home. The advertisement appeared as the headline, sparking a nationwide discussion highlighting the fact that many young people are forced to get married by their relatives in China.
1月17号，一个中国大妈在澳大利亚的华文报纸《墨尔本日报》刊出广告，说她再也不逼儿子结婚了，只要他回家就好。广告刊登在头版整版，引发了国内关于年轻人被亲人们“逼婚”的大讨论。

Unlike their parents, young people have their own plans for their lives. Miss Yin works at a mobile company and says that there are a lot of things on her agenda besides marriage.
跟他们父母不同的是，年轻的一代人对他们的人生有自己的打算。尹（音译）小姐在移动公司工作，她说除了结婚，她还有好多计划。

"When I go back home for the spring festival family reunion, my relatives always ask questions like "how is your work?" and "do you have a boy friend?". Personally, it doesn't particularly bother me, but I don't want to answer these questions. I'm not worried about marriage. I want to think about it when I meet the right person. My parents seem to never stop talking about this. I might as well say something that will comfort them. I won't give up finding someone that really suits me. The most important thing for me at present is to do my job well and do some of the things I've really wanted to do."
“每次春节团聚我回家，亲戚们总是问我‘工作怎么样？’、 ‘有男朋友吗？’个人来讲，我不是特别烦这些问题，但我真不知道怎么答话。我不着急结婚的事，我想遇到了合适的人再考虑这个问题。我父母从没停止对这事的 探讨。我可以跟他们说些舒心的话，但我不会放弃寻找真正适合我的人。对我来说，目前最重要的事情是把我的工作做好，做一些我真正想做的事。”

Some young men prefer being solo to being in a bad marriage. Men seem more wary of marrying the wrong woman than of never getting married at all. They believe, if giving in to parental pressure, they might make the wrong choice.
与其进入一个错误的婚姻，很多年轻人宁愿选择单身。很多男性宁愿一辈子不结婚也不要娶错了太太。他们觉得如果屈从了父母的压力，他们就有可能做出错误的选择。

Mr. Ma, a regional manager at an automobile company in Beijing, explains that he could fully understand the feeling of his parents, but he still want to make the choice on his own.
马（音译）先生是北京某汽车公司的区域经理，他说他完全能理解父母的感受，但是他还是想自己做决定。

"I think parents really mean well when making their children marry. They have a desperate desire for their children to have their own families and live a stable life as soon as possible. The positive side might be that young could put it on the top of their agenda. Yet, in some ways, it might not necessarily be a good thing. Anyway, marriage is a personal choice after all. When being forced to marry, people are very likely to make the wrong choice."
“我觉得父母让孩子结婚，出发点肯定是好的。他们一心只是希望孩子尽快有个自己的家庭，拥有稳定的生活。值得肯定的是促使孩子把这事放在首要日程上，但在很多方面，这也许不是件好事。毕竟，婚姻是个人的选择，一旦被迫结婚，就很容易做出错误的选择。”

According to a recent online poll during the spring festival, "Why are you still single" has become the most frequently asked question and also the most hated one when young people go back home to visit their relatives. Luckily, as the Spring Festival vacation come to an end, many young people are heading back to work. They may miss home a lot, but many are relieved from those awkward questions until the next time they go back home town.
根据春节期间网络上的一项调查，“你为什么还单身”当选为回家走亲戚被问频率最高，也最令年轻人讨厌的一句话。所幸的是，春节假期结束了，很多年轻人回去上班了。也许，他们会很想家，但是他们也摆脱了被问的尴尬，直到下次回家。