China’s “Leftover” Women  Last week, 26-year-old newlywed
college graduate Li Fang (a pseudonym) explained to me over
dinner why she had been in such a rush to marry:  If I hadn’t
gotten married now, I would still have to date for at least one
or two years. Then I would already have passed the best child-
bearing age and I would be a leftover woman.    I have roughly
translated some excerpts from the official write-up of the
survey (unfortunately leaving out the rich resonance of the
Chinese puns.)  The article uses the heading “See What Category
of ‘Leftover’ You Belong to.” The first category is leftover
women aged 25 to 27 years, who are called “leftover fighters,”
sheng dou shi, a play on the title of a popular martial arts
film. It says these women “still have the courage to fight for a
partner.”   The final category, 35 and older, is called the
“master class of leftover women.” The term qi tian da sheng
plays on the name of an ancient Chinese legend, the Monkey King.
It says this category of woman “has a