When Your Job Demands a Wedding Ring

A recent controversy in China has exposed the troubling lengths some companies will go to in order to enforce the state’s demographic agenda. Shandong Shuntian Chemical Group issued a memo ordering unmarried employees between the ages of 28 and 58 to get married and start families by September 30—or face dismissal. The notice, which went viral online, declared that refusing to wed and reproduce was “disloyal” to the nation.

This is not an isolated case. A popular supermarket chain has also banned its employees from paying or demanding expensive dowries, framing it as a way to promote affordable marriages. While officials and state media defend such measures as creating a “pro-family environment,” many young people see them as intrusive, costly, and ultimately counterproductive.

As China’s birthrate continues to fall, the question remains: how far will institutions go to fill the nation’s cradles?

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