The China Statistical Yearbook 2023 shows that in 2022, the total number of marriage registrations in China was 6.835 million, a decrease of 808000 compared to 2021. The seventh national population census report shows that in 2020, the average age of first marriage in China was 28.67 years old, which is 3.78 years later than the average age of first marriage in 2010 (24.89 years). Why do young people behave less actively in matters of marriage and love? The expansion of university enrollment and population structure issues are objective factors affecting young people's unmarried and late marriage. With the expansion of university enrollment, the number of people with undergraduate and higher education in China has been increasing year by year. The Statistical Bulletin on the Development of National Education in 2023 released by the Ministry of Education shows that in 2023, the gross enrollment rate of higher education in China was 60.2%, achieving the 14th Five Year Plan goal ahead of schedule, an increase of 25.7 percentage points from 34.5% 10 years ago. Between 2013 and 2023, the number of doctoral students in China increased from 298300 to 612500, an increase of 105.3%; The number of master's students in school increased from 1.4957 million to 3.2705 million, an increase of 118.7%. The extension of young people's years of education in school inevitably affects their time to enter marriage, and to some extent affects the delay of the average age of first marriage. In addition, the contraction of the eligible marriage population and the imbalance of gender structure have objectively led to a continuous decline in the number of marriages in China, and data shows that this trend is likely to continue in the future. The age group suitable for marriage is an important reference indicator for the number of marriages. According to the China Statistical Yearbook 2023, the birth rate in China has shown a downward trend since reaching its peak in 1987 (23.33 ‰), and has dropped to 6.77 ‰ in 2022. Although this value fluctuated during the 2010-2020 period due to the comprehensive relaxation of policies such as the second and third child policy, it did not have an impact on the scale of young people entering marriageable age in recent years. According to the 2020 China Population Census Yearbook, the population size of people aged 30-34, 25-29, and 20-24 has gradually decreased, with 124.4452 million, 91.8473 million, and 74.9417 million respectively. 20-34 years old is the main age range for young people to enter marriage. It is worth mentioning that compared with the post-85s and post-90s generations, the population aged 15-19 has further shrunk to 72.684 million people. That is to say, as the post-95s and even post-00s enter the age of marriage and childbirth, the scale of young people of marriageable age is continuously shrinking. Another important indicator that cannot be ignored is the gender ratio. According to the 2020 China Population Census Yearbook, when examining the gender ratio of men and women in various age groups, those over 110 are concentrated between the ages of 0 and 29. Further calculation shows that the gender ratio between men and women aged 20-34 in cities, towns, and rural areas is 103.37, 102.54, and 116.19, respectively. This indicates that there is a serious imbalance in the proportion of young men and women of marriageable age in rural areas of China. In recent years, the proportion of female students in various types of higher education has exceeded that of male students (data from the final statistical monitoring report of the "China Women's Development Outline (2011-2020)" released by the National Bureau of Statistics). Based on the gradient effect of mate selection, women prefer to find men who are better than themselves when choosing a spouse. In addition, highly educated women often prefer to stay in big cities for development, which further leads to gender imbalance and is not conducive to single young people's marriage and dating. Different intergenerational youth groups exhibit different characteristics of passive and active singles. Young people face difficulties in falling in love and getting married, which are not only limited by some long-standing social problems, but also influenced by many new problems that have emerged with social development. In the Internet era, marriage is no longer a private topic between two people or families, and some negative voices are often amplified on the Internet. Negative news related to marriage, such as infidelity and domestic violence, has been frequently exposed, and the first negative evaluation of marriage often ranks first in the comment section. Under the impact of these traffic, young people unconsciously reduce their expectations for a happy marriage and trust in the opposite sex. Some young people even gradually agree that "one person is also good". There are also some tearing topics that further intensify the opposition between the sexes. Associate Professor Xu Qi from the School of Sociology at Nanjing University pointed out that the online public opinion atmosphere has a significant impact on young people's views on marriage and love. Because the negative content about marriage and love is easy to attract a large number of people's attention in a short time, some "traffic is king" marketing accounts have long focused on the production and dissemination of such content. In addition, the vast majority of ordinary people are silent divers, and very few people speak actively. For this, unmarried young people who lack experience in marriage and love need to consciously and rationally look at the voice of such "small crowds" on the Internet, "not afraid of floating clouds to cover their eyes", and bravely and actively pursue the happy life enjoyed by most people. Love is a matter for two people, while marriage is a matter for two families. The high cost of marriage and childbirth, such as housing, dowries, and education expenses, deeply troubles contemporary youth and makes them hesitate from the door of marriage. Influenced by traditional beliefs, nowadays, "having one's own house when getting married" is still a persistent belief among many young people, and buying a house is almost a necessary "hurdle" for contemporary youth on their journey from love to marriage. According to a survey conducted by the Social Survey Center of China Youth Newspaper for the youth group, 78.4% of the surveyed youth feel that housing pressure is high, and young people living in first tier cities and male surveyed youth have relatively higher pressure. The issue of high priced dowries has been lingering for many years. According to a survey conducted by Tencent News Gu Yu in 2020, the average value of dowry money in China was 69000 yuan, which is more than twice the per capita disposable income of residents (32200 yuan) that year. This means that some people have to spend more than twice their disposable income in a year to get the average level of dowry. The rising cost of education has also made young people feel the immense pressure after marriage. The China Education Finance Household Survey, conducted in collaboration with the China Institute of Education Finance at Peking University and the China Family Finance Survey and Research Center at Southwest University of Finance and Economics, shows that the proportion of household education expenditure to per capita disposable income in China is 40%, with 56.1% in rural areas and 36.2% in urban areas; The proportion of total household expenditure is 14.9%, with rural areas accounting for 15.8% and urban areas accounting for 14.1%. Childcare, childcare, transportation, and academic counseling all pose multiple financial, time, and energy burdens for young parents today. In addition, there are many factors that influence the marriage and love process and mentality of contemporary young people. The high pressure of work and study, fast pace of life, and rigid social circles all put many young people in a passive state of being single. However, at the same time, there is also a situation among single young people who actively remain single. With the development of society, young people emphasize individuality, independence, and autonomy more than ever before, and their views on marriage and love have changed. They pay more attention to the quality of love, marriage, and their sense of self gain and happiness, and are unwilling to compromise in relationships. The No. 1 central document of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 2024 clearly requires that we continue to promote comprehensive treatment of prominent issues such as high bride price. This is the fifth time that the question of bride price has been written into the No. 1 central document since it was first named "sky high bride price" in 2019. The rectification of high priced dowries has become a key direction for promoting customs and traditions in many parts of the country. At the residential level, we will improve the housing security system and introduce more preferential policies for young people to rent and purchase houses. Promote education reform, strengthen the supply of childcare services for infants and young children, and increase education subsidies and other educational security expenditures. Break through the practical difficulties faced by young people in marriage and love one by one, and reduce the burden on love. In the era of the internet, online content has a subtle influence on the formation of a person's outlook on life, values, and marriage, especially for the internet "indigenous people" born after the 2000s. Standardizing the online space, strengthening the construction of online ethics, and building a healthy and positive online atmosphere are very important. They can promote young children to establish correct views on marriage and love from an early age, guide them to establish confidence in love, and aspire to love. Serving the youth is the lifeline of the work of the Communist Youth League. The Communist Youth League plays a very important role in providing marriage and love services, helping young people expand their social circles, and leading them to establish a civilized marriage and love culture. At present, youth organizations at all levels in many parts of the country have taken action to carry out various forms of activities and projects to serve young people's marriage and love. For example, they have collaborated with multiple resources to carry out single youth friendship meetings, invited experts to hold relevant themed lectures, and promoted healthy marriage and love trends at the community level. Every year, on such auspicious days as the May 4th Youth Day and the traditional Qixi Festival, many league organizations around the country are actively holding commemorative collective weddings for local youth, which not only effectively promotes the transformation of customs in the marriage field, but also greatly reduces the cost of youth weddings. In a society with increasing levels of modernization, urbanization, and informatization, solving the social and marital problems of eligible young people, especially older eligible young people, is a long and arduous task. This requires our whole society to start from the well-being of young people, continue to work hard, and work hard for a long time. In the process of continuously achieving a happy life for generations of young people, we need to build a solid foundation for the happiness of our entire society. (Lai Xin She)