Short videos circulating on major platforms such as Douyin and Weibo typically show distressed middle-aged women lamenting their decision to remain single and childless. Many clips use hospital settings to heighten the sense of vulnerability, depicting women facing illness and aging without the support of their families.
In one widely shared video, a 58-year-old AI-generated character laments loneliness during a hospital visit, while another 56-year-old character expresses deep regret for ignoring his parents' advice to start a family. Other scenes contrast the “regret” protagonist with patients who are cared for by caring family members in the bed next to them.
The video has garnered a lot of attention among parents of only children, even though the label marks the content as “AI-generated.”
“We need more videos like this. Let's see who insists on still being single,” one online observer said of such videos, according to the paper. South China Morning Post.
The pressure is being felt directly by the younger generation, with one Douyin user commenting, “I'm here because my mom shared this with me,” and another parent urging, “Hey everyone, let's spread this clip so young people can see it.”
This trend has been met with sharp criticism and cynicism from young viewers, who have dubbed the phenomenon “cyber siege.”
According to , a Weibo post using the term received more than 50,000 likes. asia one.
Critics claim the video is intentionally disturbing and deepens social divisions between married and single people.
Some users questioned the realism of AI depictions, while others felt the media spoke for itself.
One Weibo user quipped, “It's pretty funny that they used AI because they couldn't find a real person to cry and get married.” Some people warned that this tactic could backfire, with one netizen saying, “Videos like this only make children more dissatisfied with their parents' pressure on them to get married, which ultimately makes them unable to get married.”
Digital friction is occurring against the backdrop of major demographic changes in China. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the national population decreased for the third consecutive year last year, and is expected to decrease by 1.39 million people to 1.408 billion in 2024.
Marriage rates are also declining rapidly. It was announced that the number of marriage registrations in China will be 6.106 million in 2024, a decrease of 20.5% from the previous year. Xinhua News Agency and the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
The national marriage rate was just 4.3 per 1,000 people.
