Ms Xu, 34, a bank worker in the city who has worked hard to get her master's degree, now finds it an even tougher task to find her Mr Right.

Declining to be identified by her full name, Ms Xu is just one of the growing ranks of women in south China's Guangdong Province who have passed what the Chinese consider the normal age for marriage, but who are still longing for families of their own, albeit with increasing difficulty.

"It is getting more and more difficult to find husbands for these women," said Wu Shanghui, head of a matchmaking agency in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, and a deputy director of National Matrimonial Agencies' Association.

Wu estimates that of all the singles aged 35 and over in Guangdong, 70 percent are women. He added that the phenomenon is common nationwide.

Wu said more and more women do not consider getting married seriously until their late 20s, concentrating instead on college education and career ambitions.

Then, when they realize the need to spend time on finding potential husbands they usually set relatively high criteria for the candidates, given their own advantages.

As they pass 35 they find that their choices, usually men who are older than them and meet their criteria, are few.

For the men's part, Wu said, there is a rather visible trend. They are looking for women much younger than they are. For example, many men in their late 30s and 40s prefer wives who are in their 20s, this in turn creates an imbalance.

In the case of Ms Xu, being aware that the number of choices is declining, she, who has a rather successful career, said: "I spend a lot of time on my work, and my future partner, I'm afraid, will have to understand that."

Having a limited social life, which is the case with a lot of these women, who were born in the 1960s and 1970s and retain traditional values, also limits the chance of meeting candidates, Xu said.

This factor was one of the main reasons why white-collar workers are having trouble getting married, according to a survey carried out last year by the Guangdong Women's Federation.

The other result of the survey indicated that there are about 1.5 million single white-collar workers in the province.

Wu said these women should pay proper attention to appearance and manners in order to make a positive first impression and try to take the load of their age off their minds.

(China Daily August 17, 2005)