Chinese parents seek partners for unmarried children in local parks

Parental kindness or children treated like goods to be bought and sold?  

"Marriage markets" in China's big cities have never been so popular, even though their success rates remain low, reports Beijing Evening News.

Every day you'll find parents in their sixties, wandering around parks and green spaces perusing details of eligible young men and women, laid out on the ground by people equally desperate to see their children get married.

The markets have sprung up because many young people in China today are just too busy with their work to spend time trying to find someone to settle down with. So, parents take it into their own hands to arrange blind dates for their sons and daughter.

Parents in a "marriage market" in Beijing. [Photo: Beijing Evening News]

Every afternoon, desperate parents sit and wait behind pieces of cardboard giving details of their children.

Attributes such as "Beijing household registration," "urban housing," "civil servant" and "central government-owned enterprise" are seen as highly attractive, and so are often highlighted in a larger font.

Other qualities like the son or daughter's height and weight, "filial piety" and "thoughtfulness," are also sometimes underlined. In most cases, names and photos of the young men or women "on offer" have been left out. 

You'll not find "marriage markets" on the tourist trail. Located far from scenic spots, no tour guide will ever take visitors there. Parents don't like foreign tourists especially taking photos.

Pieces of cardboard laid on the ground at a park in Beijing, showing children's basic information. [Photo: Beijing Evening News]

There are far more girls than boys "waiting on cardboard." Most of the girls range from 29 to 33 years old, while boys are generally a few years older. As a result, parents of boys are much more popular in "marriage markets."

In Beijing, the number of parents of nonlocals in "marriage markets" has been increasing. But Beijingers still have the edge.

"Beijing parents take household registration more seriously than housing, occupation and appearance," said one parent from northeast China, who was sadly unable to find a boyfriend for her 30-year-old daughter who has a decent job in Beijing. "Nonlocals can never meet their requirements," she adds.

Not all young people appreciate their parents' "kindness". Many of them complain about "marriage markets" saying it makes them feel like they are simply goods to be bought and sold.