YOUNG Chinese women have been told to forget their dreams of meeting a soulmate and settle for a “more or less OK” husband.

The call for unmarried ladies to “return to reality” was made in the state media as part of an effort to increase birthrate as the country faces being overwhelmed with pensioners.

The editorial was first featured in the Communist Party-run newspaper Sichuan Dail y before being printed in the nationwide People’s Daily, reports The Times.

“Marriage is a process of tolerating each other, and it’s impossible that everything goes your way,” the article read.

“Change your attitude, return to the reality. Maybe there’ll be some imperfection, but your life will be full for it.”

China’s one-child policy, which penalised families who had two or more children, was enforced until 2015 and has left the country with a gender imbalance.

The government is worried that the low birth rate will cause instability while the imbalance in China’s demographics will result in 30 million new bachelors over the next three decades.

And now single ladies in their late-20s, referred to as “leftovers”, are being blamed for being too picky about potential suiters.

The editorial read: “A very important reason they have become the ‘leftover’ is that they have idealised love and such idealisation has led many people not to settle for a ‘more or less OK’ person.

“The ability to compromise on non-principle matters is a sign of magnanimity and contentment.”

Marriage declined by nearly 7 per cent in 2016 while the number of births fell by 630,000 in 2017.

The lack of children being produced has the one-party state worried about a labour shortage in the future which in return will be unable to support the masses of pensioners.

The government’s Youth League is even holding events to help match-make singletons while some provinces have introduced subsidies for weddings.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and has been republished with permission.