Marriage Market

The last remnants of an age old tradition in China, the marriage market that takes place on weekends at People's Square is a bizarre thing to see. Parents and grandparents have attributes of their children listed on a piece of paper attached to an umbrella for passers by to scan and potentially agree to marry. The things listed that I could make out are things like age, height, job/income, dual nationalitiies, languages spoken, interests and the occasional picture. The vast majority being of an age around 28-30 though I did see one born in 1991. No don't get me wrong this isn't a hotbed for creeps to come and get themselves a partner, other parents and grandparents are looking around for a march for their supposed unwed children and as it has got this late in the game and they haven't found a wife for themselves it's time they helped out! At least that's how they see it. We did actually see a pair of women who had agreed upon a marriage exchanging photos of their children and it seemed odd that these 2 people's lives had just been decided for a changed so dramatically without them knowing and with us as spectators. Walking around the market with hundreds of umbrellas standing watch and lots being passed without a second glance it was easy to forget that each of them actually represented a person and despite this being new and interesting experience for me it was tinged with a bit of sadness for all these people who probably tried but never found what they were looking for in time with the social construct of Chinese society.Read more