A new craze has swept social media in China in which young, single women who are not pregnant wear fake bellies to take maternity photos in advance of giving birth.
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The so-called pre-set photoshoot trend sees the women hoping to capture and celebrate significant moments while they are still in their prime.
It has shocked many Chinese parents, who wonder how “single but pregnant,” once considered shameful in traditional Chinese culture, has now become popular among Generation Z.
The country continues to see a trend of low marriage rates and declining birth rates.
In the first nine months of 2024, only 4.75 million couples registered marriages, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
However, amid the decline, the “premade maternity photos” craze was propelled into the national spotlight after a video posted online by “Meizi Gege,” a Generation Z influencer from Hunan province in central China who has more than 5.7 million followers on a major social media platform.