Female postgraduates in the city live a lonely life, a new survey suggests.

　　Researchers at the city's East China Normal University asked 662 female postgraduate students at five local universities about their romantic histories and their attitudes toward love and marriage. Most of the students are unmarried and below 30 years old.

　　Twenty-three percent of respondents said they have never had a boyfriend, while another 50 percent of those surveyed said they have only been in one romantic relationship. "The results sound incredible, but they really reflect the current situation of female postgraduate students," said Chen Weilin, who helped conduct the survey.

　　Chen said many female postgraduates spend most of their time on studies and have few social activities. As a result, many simply choose to marry a classmate or someone from hometown.

　　The postgraduate students blame traditional Chinese biases for their dating woes. About 30 percent of those surveyed said Chinese men believe a woman should be inferior to her husband.

　　Wang Yexia, 28, who earned a master's degree in Chinese literature at Shanghai Teachers University, said that she had known three interesting men during her studies, but they all backed off when they found out that she was a postgraduate.

　　"Men seem to have a psychological barrier," Wang said. "They will feel disgraced if their girlfriend or wife has a better education than they do."

　　Most men will admit the concern and usually won't marry women who earn more than they do, according to Chen Wen, a local male office worker.

　　Ma Qianfeng, a sociologist at Fudan University, said the women are to blame for the lack of romance in their lives.

　　As people can only have one major focus at any period of time, concentrating on academic research will naturally reduce the demand for love, he said.

　　The emotional vacuum will then push them back to fill their psychological needs by devoting more time to study, thus forming a vicious circle, Ma said.

　　Nearly 85 percent of respondents said they would prefer to meet Mr Right on their own rather than being set up by friends or parents.

　　Only 0.9 percent said they would try to find love over the Internet, the report said.

　　Even if they meet the right guy, only 12 percent of those surveyed said they would express their feelings directly. More than 60 percent said they would give the boy a hint or say nothing at all.