Business

For Single Women in China, Owning a Home Is a New Form of Resistance

Published

1 year ago

August 19, 2023

For Single Women in China, Owning a Home Is a New Form of Resistance

After she signed the contract for her new apartment in southern China, Guo Miaomiao, 32, ran through the mental list of what she would get to enjoy as a homeowner. A leather couch in the living room. A pumpkin pendant lamp that she’d been eyeing online.

And, most important, a way to defy expectations in China about the role that a woman should play in a marriage.

“I’ve seen too many cases, including among my relatives and friends, where the husband buys the house, and the minute the couple argues, the husband tells her to get out,” said Ms. Guo, who works at a technology company in the city of Guangzhou. “This gives me confidence that if I do get married, I won’t be afraid of anything. Even if I leave him, I can live independently.”

Ms. Guo is one of a growing number of unmarried Chinese women buying property — a trend that strikes at one of Chinese society’s most deeply rooted gender norms. For centuries, men, no matter their income level, have been expected to own a home to be eligible for marriage. For married women, in turn, the home of their husband effectively becomes their only one, as they are no longer considered part of their birth families, or as a Chinese saying puts it: “A married daughter is like water splashed away.”

Now, more Chinese women are demanding homes of their own.

A recent survey by China Youth Daily, a state-run newspaper, found that nearly 94 percent of respondents approved of single women buying property, with two-thirds saying it signaled a desire for gender equality. While official statistics on the actual rate of homeownership are limited, one government survey in 2020 found that the percentage of unmarried women who owned property had risen to 10.3 percent from 6.9 percent a decade earlier. And the numerical bump was even greater, as the number of single women aged 25 and older had grown by nearly 10 million during the same period.

The increase in female buyers is coinciding with intense turmoil in China’s housing sector. Many big and small developers have run out of money and left apartments unfinished, driving away prospective customers. Buyers like Ms. Guo saw an opportunity: She took advantage of the drop in housing prices and mortgage rates to buy a finished, and partly furnished, two-bedroom unit.

On Chinese social media, property agents have begun targeting single women, posting promotional videos with hashtags like “a little house suitable for single ladies.”

“It’s an awakening toward the rights of women,” said Wang Mengqi, an assistant professor of anthropology at Duke Kunshan University in Suzhou who has studied the property purchasing patterns of young Chinese. The shift is part of growing attention to women’s rights more generally. Though the Chinese government, as part of its larger crackdown on civil society, has tried to suppress feminist activists and organizations, topics such as the #MeToo movement and the lack of domestic violence protections have frequently topped social media discussions in recent years. Concerns about a slowing economy and an emerging preference for an independent lifestyle have also led many young Chinese to reject marriage altogether, with the number of marriage registrations in 2022 dropping to a record low of 6.8 million.

Ms. Guo, the home buyer in Guangzhou, developed an insecurity around housing from an early age. Growing up in a big family with eight siblings in a conservative area of Guangdong Province, it became clear, from things her relatives and friends said, that once married, she wouldn’t be able to live in her parents’ home anymore.

Ms. Guo, who described herself as naturally rebellious, resolved early on to buy herself a home. After graduating from college, she worked in several big cities across China, chasing increasingly ambitious job opportunities. In the last five years, she saved $70,000. And in March, she turned her dream into reality.

“I want to prove to everyone that women are not limited to the only option of marriage. I could have many other choices,” Ms. Guo said.

Alongside changing attitudes, practical changes such as rising incomes have also helped increase the rate of single female homeownership. In 2021, the number of Chinese women receiving college education overtook the number of men, according to official statistics. And the number of female workers in urban areas is up by nearly 40 percent compared with a decade ago.

Legal developments have also made wives more aware of the financial risks of living in homes their husbands own. Until 2011, divorce courts treated family homes as joint property. But as both property prices and divorce rates soared, China’s supreme court ruled that property acquired before marriage belonged only to the person who had either made the down payment or bought the property outright — leaving many divorced women essentially homeless, even if they had contributed to mortgage payments.

That change helped Zhang Ye, a 27-year-old accountant in the western city of Xi’an, persuade her parents to help her buy an apartment. She would have to help a future husband make mortgage payments anyway, she argued, so her own property would be a savvier — and safer — financial investment.

“Otherwise, after I get married, I pay the mortgage with my husband, but still don’t own the place,” she said.

Ms. Zhang’s parents agreed and paid most of the down payment for a riverside apartment that had had one previous owner.

In Changsha, a city in southern China, women made up more than half of the people who bought homes through Beike Zhaofang, one of the country’s biggest online property agencies, the company said. The women either bought the homes on their own or invested in them with partners, according to Beike, which said Changsha was the city with the highest percentage of female buyers, based on transactions on its platform.

The recent trend is still far from overturning the longstanding gender imbalance in property ownership. In 2018, the rate of property ownership among all urban female residents was only half that of male residents, according to a study by Peking University. The gap is even starker in rural areas.

By contrast, it is common for financially struggling families to help sons buy property — even taking on debt if needed — because of the perception that it is a prerequisite for marriage.

Tyler Wu, a Changsha property agent, said that many of the young female buyers he has encountered have opted for smaller condominiums or previously owned apartments.

Traditional expectations can dissuade prospective buyers in other ways, too. On social media, women have shared that men they have been set up with through matchmaking services have become less interested in them upon learning that they already own property.

Ms. Zhang’s boyfriend of five years objected when she told him she had decided to buy a property. He worried that it would take away from her ability to help pay his mortgage after they married, she said. But Ms. Zhang ignored him.

“I didn’t bother to try and persuade him,” she said. “Ever since I was a child, whatever decision I make, I stick to it.”

Business

Starbucks Reverses Its Open-Door Policy for Bathroom Use and Lounging

Published

1 hour ago

January 14, 2025

Press Room

Starbucks Reverses Its Open-Door Policy for Bathroom Use and Lounging

Starbucks will require people visiting its coffee shops to buy something in order to stay or to use its bathrooms, the company announced in a letter sent to store managers on Monday.

The new policy, outlined in a Code of Conduct, will be enacted later this month and applies to the company’s cafes, patios and bathrooms.

“Implementing a Coffeehouse Code of Conduct is something most retailers already have and is a practical step that helps us prioritize our paying customers who want to sit and enjoy our cafes or need to use the restroom during their visit,” Jaci Anderson, a Starbucks spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement.

Ms. Anderson said that by outlining expectations for customers the company “can create a better environment for everyone.”

The Code of Conduct will be displayed in every store and prohibit behaviors including discrimination, harassment, smoking and panhandling.

People who violate the rules will be asked to leave the store, and employees may call law enforcement, the policy says.

Before implementation of the new policy begins on Jan. 27, store managers will be given 40 hours to prepare stores and workers, according to the company. There will also be training sessions for staff.

This training time will be used to prepare for other new practices, too, including asking customers if they want their drink to stay or to go and offering unlimited free refills of hot or iced coffee to customers who order a drink to stay.

The changes are part of an attempt by the company to prioritize customers and make the stores more inviting, Sara Trilling, the president of Starbucks North America, said in a letter to store managers.

“We know from customers that access to comfortable seating and a clean, safe environment is critical to the Starbucks experience they love,” she wrote. “We’ve also heard from you, our partners, that there is a need to reset expectations for how our spaces should be used, and who uses them.”

The changes come as the company responds to declining sales, falling stock prices and grumbling from activist investors. In August, the company appointed a new chief executive, Brian Niccol.

Mr. Niccol outlined changes the company needed to make in a video in October. “We will simplify our overly complex menu, fix our pricing architecture and ensure that every customer feels Starbucks is worth it every single time they visit,” he said.

The new purchase requirement reverses a policy Starbucks instituted in 2018 that said people could use its cafes and bathrooms even if they had not bought something.

The earlier policy was introduced a month after two Black men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks while waiting to meet another man for a business meeting.

Officials said that the men had asked to use the bathroom, but that an employee had refused the request because they had not purchased anything. An employee then called the police, and part of the ensuing encounter was recorded on video and viewed by millions of people online, prompting boycotts and protests.

In 2022, Howard Schultz, the Starbucks chief executive at the time, said that the company was reconsidering the open-bathroom policy.

Business

'TikTok refugees' unexpectedly turn to Chinese alternative as ban looms

Published

2 hours ago

January 14, 2025

Press Room

'TikTok refugees' unexpectedly turn to Chinese alternative as ban looms

TAIPEI, Taiwan — TikTok users concerned about a looming ban are finding solace in a strange place.

Days ahead of a Supreme Court decision that could determine whether the popular short-video app shuts down starting Sunday, a number of users appear to be turning to an app called RedNote — more commonly known to its majority-Chinese audience by its Chinese name, Xiaohongshu.

It’s a surprising choice since Xiaohongshu is Chinese-owned, and such ties are the reason U.S. lawmakers moved to ban TikTok in the U.S., citing privacy and national security concerns.

Also Xiaohongshu is dominated by Chinese language, and its content is subject to censorship by Chinese government officials, something alien to most U.S. users.

But by embracing a Chinese social media and lifestyle app similar to Instagram, some U.S. TikTok users say they are protesting what they believe is the unfair ban of the ubiquitous app.

“I think America is trying to bully China into selling to an American owner. A lot of us just don’t want to give in to them,” said Samantha Manassero, a 39-year-old nurse in L.A. who downloaded Xiaohongshu on Sunday night after watching content creators on TikTok pitch it as a comparable app. “I think some of it is literally just pettiness.”

Last year, Congress passed a bill that requires TikTok’s owner, Bytedance, to sell the app to a U.S.-approved owner or face a nationwide ban. As soon as Wednesday, the Supreme Court is expected to uphold the legality of the ban.

It was unclear whether Xiaohongshu, which was started in 2013, would become a viable alternative to TikTok or if the recent migration to the Chinese platform accounts for a significant share of TikTok’s 170 million U.S. users.

But a surge in new users made Xiaohongshu the top free download on Apple’s App Store this week. No. 2 on the charts was another social media app developed by Bytedance, Lemon8. It’s unclear whether either app will be subjected to the same U.S. government scrutiny as TikTok.

It is also difficult to determine exactly how many U.S. TikTok users have created accounts on Xiaohongshu or how many will stay on it. While many Xiaohongshu regulars have welcomed the influx of Americans identifying themselves as “TikTok refugees,” the app’s interface is largely in Chinese, making it difficult to navigate for non-native speakers.

Chinese apps are subject to stringent censorship on discussions that the Chinese government deems politically sensitive. These topics can range from illegal activities to LGBTQ+ rights to Winnie the Pooh, images of which have been used to mock Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Chinese version of TikTok, called Douyin, has different content restrictions and is only available for mobile download in China. Bytedance has argued that TikTok, which is used by the rest of the world, is a separate entity from Douyin and not beholden to the Chinese Communist Party.

That did not stop President-elect Donald Trump from proposing a ban of TikTok in 2020, or President Biden from signing it into law in 2024.

The legality of such a ban has been questioned several times. Last month, in an about-face, Trump, who has 14.8 million followers on TikTok, filed a legal brief requesting to stay the ban so he can negotiate a deal once he takes office.

As TikTok faces an uncertain future, Xiaohongshu’s latest arrivals were eager to try out the new app despite its foreign nature.

Manassero, who posts videos about healthcare and power lifting to about 7,000 followers on TikTok, said she already has a much larger audience of 26,000 on Instagram. However, she was motivated to create an account on Xiaohongshu partly out of frustration at the U.S. government’s determination to outlaw TikTok.

“I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t know what I’m reading, I’m just pressing buttons,” Manassero said in her first video post. The next morning, her account had received 5,000 views and 3,500 new followers. By Tuesday, the hashtag “Tiktok refugee” had received more than 90 million views and 2 million comments.

TikTokers sought each other out with introductions, follow requests and shared tips on how to navigate the app’s Chinese functions. On Monday, more than 190,000 viewers joined a live chat named “TikTok Refugees Club,” and held discussions in English about what a TikTok ban would mean and future plans for social media content. In the comments, users greeted new arrivals and lamented they could not understand each other.

“Maybe you can learn how to speak Chinese,” one user wrote in English.

“Where’s the translator?” another viewer asked in Chinese.

On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese officials had discussed the possibility of selling TikTok to a trusted non-Chinese party such as Elon Musk, who already owns social media platform X. However, analysts said that Bytedance is unlikely to agree to a sale of the underlying algorithm that powers the app, meaning the platform under a new owner could still look drastically different.

Manassero and other TikTokers expressed distaste at the prospect of migrating to U.S. tech platforms such as Instagram or X that could benefit from an influx of users if TikTok shuts down.

“We don’t want to turn around and make a bunch of billionaires even more rich,” she said. “I would honestly rather the app get shut down than be owned by Elon Musk.”

Though she is still trying to figure out how to use Xiaohongshu and message people back, Manassero said she would likely stay on the Chinese lifestyle app regardless of whether the TikTok ban goes through.

“The response has been so friendly and nice. It’s good energy,” she said. “This feels like the early TikTok days: a little more organic, so it’s fun.”

Business

Why TikTok Users Are Downloading ‘Red Note,’ the Chinese App

Published

9 hours ago

January 14, 2025

Press Room

Why TikTok Users Are Downloading ‘Red Note,’ the Chinese App

Manimatana Lee spent the past five years building one of the hottest commodities on the internet: a group of people who reliably watch her videos on TikTok.

She built an audience of nearly 10,000 followers with videos of herself vacuuming her house in Wisconsin while her youngest daughter napped in a carrier on her back. A video of Ms. Lee dancing and doing the dishes — while wearing her sleeping baby — has been watched more than one million times since November.

Now, with the Supreme Court soon to rule in a case that could determine whether TikTok could be banned in the United States over national security concerns, Ms. Lee and other Americans looking for alternatives are downloading Xiaohongshu, a social media app that is popular in China and little known outside the country.

“How funny would it be if they ban TikTok and we all just move over to this Chinese app,” Ms. Lee wrote on Monday on TikTok encouraging her followers to join her.

Xiaohongshu was the most downloaded free app in the U.S. Apple store on Tuesday. Over 300 million people, mostly in China, use the app, where they share short videos as well as still, text-based posts. People flocking to it said, in interviews and on the app, that they wanted to show they do not share Washington’s concerns about TikTok’s ties to China.

TikTok, which is available in more than 150 countries but not China, is owned by the Chinese internet company ByteDance. American creators who post videos on TikTok say the app has been a source of connection, entertainment and information since it became a sensation during the Covid-19 pandemic. Its secret sauce is its proprietary algorithm, technology that recommends a constant stream of short videos targeted to keep people scrolling.

But lawmakers in the United States and other countries have warned that the Chinese government could use TikTok to access data about its users such as location and browsing histories. Officials in Washington say they are also concerned that China could use TikTok to spread false information among the 170 million people who use it in the United States.

Xiaohongshu means “little red book” in Mandarin. Americans new to the app said they were not put off by the reference to a book of Mao Zedong’s sayings. Many call the app “Red Note.”

“I don’t really care if I’m using a Chinese app at all,” said Ms. Lee. “It’s like a place for me to escape reality. And if it’s making me feel good, I’m here for it.”

A group of American creators have sued the government over the law that could see the TikTok app forcibly sold or banned in the United States, and TikTok is paying their legal fees. Ms. Lee and another creator said in interviews that their interest in Xiaohongshu had not been incentivized by either company. TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.

The Americans on Xiaohongshu have rallied under the hashtag “TikTokrefugee,” which had been viewed 100 million times and sparked around 2.5 million discussion threads on the app by Tuesday.

Joining the app has put American users in closer contact with people online in China than they have ever been on TikTok. In China, people use Douyin, a very similar app that ByteDance used to develop the technology that made TikTok a worldwide hit. Douyin is difficult to access outside China.

Many shared tips on how to navigate the app, which is mainly made for and used by people who read and speak Mandarin. Some took screenshots and asked ChatGPT to translate posts, they said.

Xiaohongshu displays the city or province of Chinese users who post and comment, and the country for users outside China. “We are coming to the Chinese spies and begging them to let us stay here,” said one American user. “Approved, welcome to Red Note,” someone in Shanghai replied.

Until late December, 85 percent of Xiaohongshu traffic was from China, according to Similarweb, a data provider and website traffic tracker. The app is especially popular among women in their 20s and 30s, and its long comment threads have become a popular source of information for people to swap questions about everyday concerns, similar to Reddit.

Xiaohongshu did not respond to requests for comment.

On Tuesday, more than 100,000 people had joined a live group chat hosted by a user named “TikTok Refugee Club,” where people from around the world chatted with Chinese users about urban safety. In another group chat, which had been viewed more than 30,000 times, participants discussed censorship and shared tips in the comments on how to avoid being banned from the platform for bringing up politically sensitive topics.

Under another video posted by someone who said they were usually on TikTok, a user in China responded with a meme of a cat with paws outstretched. “I’m your Chinese spy,” the comment said, “give me all your data.”