Marriage Market in People’s Park

So here’s a cultural oddity:

Every weekend in People’s Park hundreds of families come together and create a real-world dating site.

Traditionally, from what I’ve read, it’s a parent’s job to find a suitable spouse for a child. And with the one-child policy creating “little emperors,” it’s likely a more accelerated process.

So, parents post the age, height, education, job, salary and other qualifications (and sometimes a photo) of their children with the hope of getting a new member of the family down the road.

From my understanding children are not always willing participants in this sort of matchmaking.

Usually blind dates are setup after each family makes some sort of an agreement. It’s usually not just one blind date. Sometimes it can be a long, arduous affair.

I’m not certain on the effectiveness of this sort of matchmaking, but it’s nonetheless a very unique method for a Western onlooker.

For those trying to silence parental prodding there is the fake-marriage market, where lesbians find gay men to marry.