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Matchmaking the Modern Chinese Way
A "Love Bus" event on Nov. 27, in Fuzhou City, southern China. Over 1,000 boarded 10 romantically decorated buses, looking for a partner
Literally translated from the Chinese as “leftover male” and “leftover female,” the pejorative titles ‘shengnan’ and ‘shengnu’ refer to Chinese urbanites past their prime, unmarried, and in pursuit of matrimony: finding one’s other half is not easy in today’s China.
But the parents of this coddled one-child generation are only too happy to step into the breach.
Events such as “10 thousand people matchmaking expos”, “marriage supermarkets” and “love buses” have become carnivals of matchmaking services, but where it is rare to find an actual shengnan or shengnu in the flesh. They are instead often staged on behalf of the late-bloomers by their parents, eager to help their only children, even if it means doing so without their knowledge or acquiescence.
The state of an unmarried Chinese in their late 20s and early 30s is not a happy one to be in, and despite its spread the social stigma remains. Parents go on vicarious matchmaking jaunts, meeting others in a similar position, and organizing dates on both their children’s behalf.
Life Weekly, a subsidiary of People’s Daily Online, published an article on the topic in August. It highlighted a typical matchmaking expo organized by parents in a city park. About 3,000 older parents strolled around, holding signs and sporting broad grins, exchanging telephone numbers with the parents of potential in-laws.
A matchmaking expo on Oct. 23 in Shenyang City, northeastern China. Over ten thousand people, mostly parents, showed up in pursuit of mates for their children.
A "Love Bus" event on Nov. 27, in Fuzhou City, southern China. Over 1,000 boarded 10 romantically decorated buses, looking for a partner
Literally translated from the Chinese as “leftover male” and “leftover female,” the pejorative titles ‘shengnan’ and ‘shengnu’ refer to Chinese urbanites past their prime, unmarried, and in pursuit of matrimony: finding one’s other half is not easy in today’s China.
But the parents of this coddled one-child generation are only too happy to step into the breach.
Events such as “10 thousand people matchmaking expos”, “marriage supermarkets” and “love buses” have become carnivals of matchmaking services, but where it is rare to find an actual shengnan or shengnu in the flesh. They are instead often staged on behalf of the late-bloomers by their parents, eager to help their only children, even if it means doing so without their knowledge or acquiescence.
The state of an unmarried Chinese in their late 20s and early 30s is not a happy one to be in, and despite its spread the social stigma remains. Parents go on vicarious matchmaking jaunts, meeting others in a similar position, and organizing dates on both their children’s behalf.
Life Weekly, a subsidiary of People’s Daily Online, published an article on the topic in August. It highlighted a typical matchmaking expo organized by parents in a city park. About 3,000 older parents strolled around, holding signs and sporting broad grins, exchanging telephone numbers with the parents of potential in-laws.
A matchmaking expo on Oct. 23 in Shenyang City, northeastern China. Over ten thousand people, mostly parents, showed up in pursuit of mates for their children.
