In a city of 24-million you’d think the last thing at a
premium would be people. But a
governmental one-child policy and a culture, like most, that has a legacy of
valuing men above women have hit China hard.
This means that thousands of Shanghainese men (and some women) have come
up short in the love department.
Take heart though, the thousands of adult children have
thousands of sets of parents who are willing to take matters into their own
hands. They do this at the weekendly
‘marriage market’, a People’s Park-side affair where families don umbrellas
that double as want-ad notice boards and the hot commodity is a spouse for
their child.
Signs are dotted in Mandarin with the occasional number:
Chinese character (CC), CC, CC 1981. CC,
CC, CC, 68, CC, CC, 1.78m, CC, ¥3000, CC, CC, CC. We soon discerned that birthdate, height,
year and income were all fair play.
Pictures were rarely included—clearly love is blind.
And Chinese mothers and fathers gambled hard, carrying lists
with names and phone numbers, giving the hard sell when other parents stopped
by to glean information. Others used it
as a social occasion, a reason to get out of the house on a Saturday
afternoon.
Probably unsurprisingly, not a young Chinese person was to
be found. Word on the street is they’re
not too keen that their parents are soliciting their futures. And very few ‘matches’ make it past a first
date, if that. I can’t say I blame
them—if I ended up with someone my parents picked, I’d be living in the house
next door. No disrespect to them
but I doubt Michigan could provide me with nearly as much amusement as China is
right now.
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