The wall is covered with flyers written by mothers and fathers looking for spouses for their children at a `matchmaking fair` in Shanghai.

`I’m not sure whether I want to have children or not. But now, I have the money and time to freeze my eggs. That way, in the future, I can still choose,` a 40-year-old woman said.

More and more Chinese women are focusing on developing their careers and delaying starting a family.

`I’m happy with my independent life,` said ZZ, currently a marketing director for a foreign company.

For single Chinese women, egg freezing is a form of insurance.

Career first

Jia, 26 years old, is single and currently has no boyfriend.

`Even if I had a boyfriend, I wouldn’t get married until I was over 30,` Jia said.

Jia is not an isolated case.

In addition, Chinese women also face pressure from the traditional notion that giving birth is a mandatory moral duty for women.

`After freezing my eggs, I made my parents believe that I would finally have a baby. Right now, I just have other priorities,` said Manman, 31, owner of a photography studio in North

Manman, 31 years old, went to Los Angeles, USA to freeze his eggs.

Unlike Jia, Ms. Zhang, 40 years old, considers herself a traditional woman. She has wanted to have a family of her own for many years but has not yet been satisfied.

`It’s very difficult to find the right person… Men always prefer women who are younger than them, who have better fertility.`

Legal barriers

The Chinese government prohibits single women from freezing their eggs.

`The ban on egg freezing by single women is related to China’s family planning policy,` commented Chen Yaya, deputy secretary of the gender and development center of the Shanghai Academy of Society.

The prerequisite for having a child in China is to be married.

`The family must have a man. This policy reflects patriarchy and patriarchal ideology in China,` said women’s rights activist Xiao Meili.

Ye Qinmin, 39, an interior designer in Shanghai who froze her eggs at a clinic in Canada, said the government should not interfere with women’s plans to freeze their eggs just because they are not married.

There is genuine demand

A sperm bank in Beijing, China.

There are no official statistics on the number of Chinese women going abroad to freeze their eggs, but on domestic forums and social networks, people talk enthusiastically about this topic.

`This market segment is growing,` commented Sammi Kwok, executive director of operations at the reproductive and surgical center of California, USA.

In recent years, an average of about 25 Chinese women a year have come to this center to freeze their eggs.

Egg freezing services are offered in Taiwan and Cambodia, but the US is still the destination chosen by many Chinese women.

`Most of our customers are wealthy, educated Chinese women in their 30s,` revealed Deng Xuyang, CEO of California-based Mengmei clinic.

According to data from the American Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, 33 out of 51 clinics in California provide services to Chinese customers.

Kevin Doody, president of the Association, said that between 2009 and 2014, the number of egg freezing cases in the US increased nearly 11-fold to more than 6,000 cases.

An Hong