While many Chinese parents are concerned that their sons may have problems finding spouses, Ms Deng Wenhui, 38, and her engineer husband Li Hongbo are confident that their 12-year-old son, Li Chang, has nothing to worry about.

'He is a school heart-throb,' she said. 'Many girls have said they like him, so he should have no problem finding a spouse.'

Still, she is prepared to provide her only son with 'the best financial support possible to attract a wife'.

'I would want to help him become the best marriage material,' she said, adding that she was even willing to accept a foreign daughter-in-law - but only if Li Chang were marrying 'for true love'.

As for Li Chang himself, he said: 'I don't know about such things, 2020 is too far away for me to think about it.'

This article was first published in The Sunday Times.