Sheng nu (; common translation: leftover women or "leftover ladies") is a term popularized by the All-China Women's Federation that classifies women who remain unmarried in their late twenties and beyond. Most prominently used in China, the term has also been used colloquially to refer to women in India, North America, Europe, and other parts of Asia. The term compares unmarried women to leftover food and has gone on to become widely used in the mainstream media and has been the subject of several television series, magazine and newspaper articles, and book publications, focusing on the negative connotations and positive reclamation of the term. While initially backed and disseminated by pro-government media in 2007, the term eventually came under criticism from government-published newspapers two years later. Xu Xiaomin of The China Daily described the sheng nus as "a social force to be reckoned with" and others have argued the term should be taken as a positive to mean "successful women". The slang term, 3S or 3S Women, meaning "single, seventies (1970s), and stuck" has also been used in place of sheng nu.
The equivalent term for men, guang gun (光棍) meaning bare branches, is used to refer to men who do not marry and thus do not add 'branches' to the family tree. Similarly, shengnan (剩男) or "leftover men" has also been used. Scholars have noted that this term is not as commonly used as "leftover women" in Chinese society and that single males reaching a certain age will often be labeled as either "golden bachelors"(黄金单身汉) or "diamond single man" (钻石王老五).
Background
As a long-standing tradition, early-age marriage was prevalent in China's past. It was until 2005, that merely 2% of females aged between 30 and 34 were single. By contrast, 10% of the males were single. China's one-child policy (Family Planning Program) and sex-selective abortions have led to a disproportionate growth in the country's gender balance. Approximately 20 million more men than women have been born since the one-child policy was introduced in 1979, or 120 males born for every 100 females. By 2020, China is expected to have 24 million more men than women. The global average is 103 to 107 males per 100 females.
According to The New York Times, the State Council of the People's Republic of China (Central People's Government) issued an "edict" in 2007 regarding the Population and Family Planning Program (one-child-policy) to address the urgent gender imbalance and cited it as a major "threat to social stability". The council further cited "upgrading population quality (suzhi)" as one of its primary goals and appointed the All-China Women's Federation, a state agency established in 1949 to "protect women's rights and interests", to oversee and resolve the issue.
The exact etymology of the term is not conclusively known, but most reliable sources cite it as having entered the mainstream in 2006. The China Daily reported in 2011 that Xu Wei, the editor-in-chief of the Cosmopolitan Magazine China, coined the term. The term, sheng nu, literally translates to "leftover ladies" or "leftover women". The China Daily newspaper further reported that the term originally gained popularity in the city of Shanghai and later grew to nationwide prominence. In 2007, the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China released an official statement defining sheng nu as any "unmarried women over the age of 27" and added it to the national lexicon. According to several sources, the government mandated the All-China Women's Federation to publish series of articles stigmatizing unwed women who were in their late twenties.
In March 2011, the All-China Women's Federation posted a controversial article titled 'Leftover Women Do Not Deserve Our Sympathy' shortly after International Women's Day. An excerpt states, "Pretty girls do not need a lot of education to marry into a rich and powerful family. But girls with an average or ugly appearance will find it difficult" and "These girls hope to further their education in order to increase their competitiveness. The tragedy is, they don't realise that as women age, they are worth less and less. So by the time they get their MA or PhD, they are already old – like yellowed pearls." Originally at least 15 articles were available on its website relating to the subject of sheng nu, which have now been subsequently removed, that included matchmaking advice and tips.