Older woman who sponsored girl through school and university is shocked to find that she wants to settle down as a housewife and mother. Social media commenters share sponsor’s disappointment, with one saying: ‘Her education and diplomas are just her dowries and nothing more’. — SCMP
A Chinese social media post about the sponsored-education trajectory of a poor young woman who wants to become a rich housewife has stoked heated online debate about the purpose of academia.
The post on Xiaohongshu, from an IP address which indicates that the self-confessed confused sponsor was based in the northeastern province of Liaoning, said that she was perturbed by the fact that a poor girl she had financially supported for eight years had chosen to become a housewife.
She started sponsoring the girl from lower secondary school and continued to do so throughout her higher secondary school and then university studies.
The poster said that in her hometown, many rural children do not continue their studies after secondary school and go out to work, but this girl had good grades, so she wanted to support her.
“I sponsored her because it’s like seeing my old self, one who almost didn’t receive an education and lived a hard life,” the poster said.
The sponsor said that for eight years, even when her monthly income was hovering between 2,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan (US$288 to US$433), she would use half of her salary to fund the girl: “Just hoping that she would stick around and be able to continue her education”.
She only had the girl’s bank account and phone numbers and the only communication between the two was when the girl sent her a congratulatory message on Lunar New Year.
Last year, the girl graduated from “a very average university”.
As in previous years, the poster received a text message from the girl this Lunar New Year.
The two of them talked and the girl revealed that she was not working and was preparing for her wedding.
The dismayed poster then learned that the girl had found a husband-to-be who was a businessman 13 years older and who was “very well off”.
She also discovered that the man was keen to have children, so the girl wanted to get married as soon as possible and get pregnant.
The girl also told her long-time sponsor that her most significant advantage was being “good-looking and young”, so “marriage is a second chance to be reborn”.
On sensing the sponsor’s disappointment and unhappiness, the girl offered to return all the money she had received but the sponsor declined.
The poster said she lost sleep for days because of the girl, adding that when her mother heard about the situation, she told her: “This girl is smarter than you”.
The post sparked buzz on mainland Chinese social media.
On a post with tens of thousands of comments and reposts on Weibo, most social media observers said they could not accept the girl’s choice.
One comment, which received 14,000 likes, said: “Her education and diplomas are just her dowries and nothing more”.
Another said: “Downward freedom is not freedom”. – South China Morning Post
