Marriage Market – Revisited
Ahhhh… Spring is in the air and with the blossoming flowers come new relationships. So where else would I be but the marriage market. As I walked the markets long corridors, I could feel the tension in the air as over-eager parents desperately tried to play matchmaker for their sons and daughters. There were new faces on display, sadly there were also some familiar ones, and some newly added features!
I am highly intrigued by this new friendly face that I found…she seems to love large frogs? I’m not entirely sure what this beast is but it may have something to do with her career as a cartoonist making 4,000RMB per month. I still can’t believe how open everyone here is with their salary and contact information! In America this would be a recipe for disaster.
Like I said, there were some familiar faces as well. This girl for instance has been posted more than a few times at the marriage market. It could be any number of reasons really; she rejects her parent’s choices, her parents haven’t found someone they feel worthy, her dates aren’t impressed? Or maybe she’s a model other girls use to get interest because they aren’t confident enough in their own appearance? This is a mystery much larger just one girl.
I also noticed for the first time that the marriage market isn’t necessarily only for the young. Yep folks, no age discrimination here, except against those pesky 45-54 year olds!
I am still highly intrigued by this weekly event and plan on visiting each time I’m in Shanghai. It must work or it wouldn’t continue to grow with each passing week. Hope the mystery girl was able to find what she was looking for! She probably had better luck that this girl whose father just scribbled a note and posted it on the wall far from the rest of the crowd…