Sheng nu

Sheng nu (剩女; shèngnǚ; common translation: "leftover women" or "leftover ladies") is a derogatory term made popular by the All-China Women's Federation that classifies women who remain unmarried in their late twenties and beyond. The term is most prominently used in China, including a state sponsored directive and program, but has been used to describe women across Asia, India, and North America. The term has gone on to become widely used in the mainstream media and has been the subject of several televisions series, magazine and newspaper articles, and book publications focusing on both the good and bad aspects of the term and surrounding culture. Xu Xiaomin of The China Daily described the sheng nus as "a social force to be reckoned with" while others have argued the term should be taken as a positive to mean "successful women". The slang term, 3S or 3S Women, meaning "single, seventies (1970s), and stuck" has also been used in place of sheng nu. The equivalent term for men, guang gun (光棍) meaning bare branches, is used to refer to men who do not marry and thus do not add 'branches' to the family tree. Similarly, shengnan (剩男) or "leftover men" has also been used.

The one-child policy (Family Planning Program) and sex-selective abortions in China have caused a growing disproportion in the country's gender balance. Since 1979, when the one-child policy was introduced, approximately 20 million more men than women have been born, or 120 males to 100 females born, and by 2020, China is expected to have 24 million more men than women. The global average is 103 males to 107 females.

According to The New York Times, the State Council of the People's Republic of China (Central People's Government) issued an "edict" in 2007 regarding the Population and Family Planning Program (one-child-policy) to address the urgent gender imbalance and cited it as a major "threat to social stability". The council further cited "upgrading population quality (suzhi)" as one of its primary goals and appointed the All-China Women's Federation, a state agency established in 1949 to "protect women's rights and interests", to oversee and resolve the issue.

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