Marriage Market at People’s Square

A short walk west from East Nanjing Pedestrian Street, nestled within the green space of People's Square is a meat market of sorts: here, parents put out posters to help find prospective marriage partners for their single children.

Walking into the park, we easily located the Marriage Market. On the ground, parents placed descriptions of their single children. Even with my limited Mandarin, I figured out that the posters listed attributes such as their year of birth (most were born in the 1980s), their height (but not their weight), their jobs and educational qualifications, where they live, and in some cases what kind of mate they were looking for. I only saw one poster with a photograph of the child, and that photo was likely outdated. A fair number of the kids were located in the US or Singapore.

There were quite a few parents in attendance, but none of their kids were to be seen. I can imagine their 40-something kids saying: "Mom/Dad, you're embarrassing me!".

After viewing the Marriage Market, we wandered the grounds and enjoyed the greenery.

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