China company withdraws notice after issuing marriage deadline to single and divorced employees

Wednesday, February 26, 2025 - A Chinese company that gave a deadline to all single and divorced staff to marry before September 2025 or be fired has made a u-turn after facing backlash. 

The Shuntian Chemical Group, located in east China’s Shandong province, issued a notice last week that stated that the company believed in the values of “diligence, kindness, loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness.” 

The company then said that employees should live by these values in their own lives, and that marriage and children were the road to doing so. 

“Not responding to the government’s call to improve the marriage rate is disloyal. Not listening to your parents is not filial. Letting yourself be single is not benevolent. Failing your colleagues’ expectations is unjust,” the notice issued to employees by the company read, according to a translation by the South China Morning Post. 

To do so, the notice instructed all single and divorced employees aged 28-58 to “get married and settle down”. 

The notice added that unmarried employees were required to “resolve your personal marriage issues” by Sept. 30, 2025. 

Those who were unable to get married by the end of March 2025 would be required to write a self-criticism letter. 

By the end of June, the company would conduct an evaluation of the still-unmarried employees, and those still single at the end of September would be fired. 

“If not completed by the first quarter, you must write a self-reflection,” the notice read. “If not completed by the second quarter, the company will conduct an evaluation.” 

“If you cannot get married and establish a family by the third quarter, the company will terminate your labor contract,” it continued. “Please take note.” 

Local media reported that the press were told it was an internal decision taken by senior management. 

However, a company spokesperson clarified later that the policy was intended to urge older unmarried employees to get married. 

The local human resources and social security bureau reportedly met with officials of the company on 13 February, pointing out that its notice was a violation of certain provisions of the country’s labour laws. 

The company withdrew its notice the following day. 

China’s birthrate has been steadily declining since the late 1980s after it introduced a strict one child policy to control the rapidly growing population. Total population fell for the third consecutive year in 2024. 

It was still the world’s most populous country until India took the lead in April 2023.