In 1986 only 675 Hong Kong women married mainland Chinese, but by 2013 this figure had grown to 7,507 - a tenfold increase. A new report shows that many women in Hong Kong now work on the Chinese mainland, where they have the chance meet wealthy mainlanders with their own international life experience. Marriages between Hong Kong women and mainland men are becoming increasingly common.

A report released by Hong Kong Statistics Department on July 31 indicates that the number of marriages between Hong Kong men and mainland women fell from 28,100 in 2006 to 19,600 in 2013. Conversely, marriages between Hong Kong women and mainland men are on the rise.

The imbalance of the sex ratio in Hong Kong is probably one of the reasons for the above phenomenon. The report shows that of the 7.19 million population in Hong Kong, 3.86 million are women, and only 3.33 million are men. The reported male to female ratio was 864: 1000, and the imbalance is getting worse.

However, "leftover men" in Hong Kong still outnumber "leftover women". According to the report unmarried women over the age of 30 number about 347,000, while unmarried men of the same age number about 364,000.

It seems that the main factors pushing Hong Kong women to marry mainland men may lie in the growing number of women who work on the Chinese mainland, and the improvement in the economic conditions and education of mainland men. The report shows that the number of Hong Kong women who work on the mainland reached 40,000 in 2014. They have more chance to meet their "perfect match" among the mainland men in their work environment.

Hong Xuelian, associate Professor of the Department of Social Work of Hong Kong Baptist University, thinks that with the economic development of the mainland, growing numbers of Hong Kong women who go to work in the north will form partnerships with mainland men at work. There will be cultural differences between the two, but the difference can be reduced if the mainland men have experience of overseas life and a good education.

Huifang Au, a wedding consultant in Hong Kong, explains that since Hong Kong has more women than men, while the mainland has more men than women, "Hong Kong women and mainland men are the perfect match." 

This article is edited and translated from 2013年7507名香港女性嫁往内地, Source: People's Daily