The Shanghai Marriage Market.docVIP

The Shanghai Marriage Market 　　Every weekend， deep in the heart of Shanghai， a market congregates. It doesn’t sell vegetables， or fish， or trashy souvenirs. It traffics in potential spouses， and parents are the ones doing the buying and selling. You see desperate middle aged men and women， holding up scraps of paper that tell you all you need to know about their child ?C height， age， occupation， zodiac sign， and the property they own. Pictures are rarely seen. These bits of information are also scattered all over the market ?C plastered on walls， compiled in thick Yellow Pages style books and taped to umbrellas. It’s a strange sight to behold， even for the local Shanghainese. 　　To many here， the fact that their children remain un- married at the age of 25 and above is deeply worrying. They fear that once their children pass this golden age， the chance to marry will pass them by forever， and they will never know the joy of having grandchildren. The fact that the success rate of the marriage market is less than 0.2%， or the fact that online dating services are alive and well in modern China， doesn’t seem to diminish the popularity of this phenomenon. Some parents have spent up to a decade visiting the market， without scoring a single date. Perhaps the marriage market is more for the benefit of the parents than their children ?C this place seems more akin to a weekly social gathering for ageing parents， letting them trade contact numbers and sob stories bemoaning the lack of eligible spouses for their children in a city of 20 million. 　　Most children are unaware that their parents are advertising their names at the market ?C as one can imagine， it is deeply embarrassing to know that your parents spend their weekends desperately trying， and usually failing， to find you a spouse. Still， some brave bachelors and bachelorettes come to visit the market anyway， braving the judgement of parents in order to find an eligible husband or wife. However， such people are a mi