‘Budget wife’ standards spark debate

A newly coined term called “budget wife” is apparently one of the hotly debated topics on Chinese online social media. 

Budget wife, or “jingji shiyong nu” in Chinese, is a neologism referring to women having several characteristics required of an average wife. The term was first introduced by an anonymous Internet user and went viral on Sina Weibo, China’s most popular micro-blogging platform. 

The following is the list of standards to be qualified as a budget wife: 

- Be between 160 and 176 centimeter tall
- Weigh between 45 and 54 kilograms
- Have long hair that trails over shoulders
- Be warm and mild in personality
- Have B- to C-cup size breasts
- Not be a “gold digger”
- Not be a flirt
- Be a little horny
- Earn between roughly $500 to $1000 per month
- Have a bachelor’s degree or above
- Know how to cook and wash clothes
- Be responsible and sympathetic
- Speak appropriately
- Be educated and reasonable

Since the list was published on Weibo, it has been re-tweeted more than 10,000 times and generated some 6,700 replies.

“The list is totally absurd. It is almost impossible for typical Chinese women to meet the budget wife standards,” said Wang Myung-won, a Chinese overseas student residing in Seoul.

According to a poll conducted by one Weibo user, more than 50 percent of the respondents said the criteria for a budget wife were too demanding to fulfill. Another 15 percent said the given standards did not describe regular women.
 
By Park Sui, Intern reporter
(suipark@heraldcorp.com)