Looking for Love

People's Square - the main city square of Shanghai - was once the site of the city racetrack where foreigners would, in the late 19th and early 20th century, gather to socialize and gamble.  During the Japanese invasion, it was used as a holding camp, and the postwar Kuomingtang government turned it into a sports arena.  By 1952 the Communist government paved over the racetrack and turned much of the area into a parade ground.  Today, People's Square and Park is a beautiful tree-lined area with a lake, rock gardens, and a small amusement park.  It's an oasis in the chaotic city and was a good starting point for an outing with Jeb and Hope.  (Madeline left Sunday morning for a week in Beijing with the 7th grade.)

So on Sunday, a spectacular Fall day, we set out for a walk in People's Park where we rambled along and into an alleyway crowded with men and women and hundreds and hundreds of signs like the ones you see below.  Not able to read any Chinese, we were stumped.  Lost children? Runaways? Job hunters? 

While the kids and I walked ahead to look at the park map, John stopped to take a few photos and quickly came to a funny realization.  This, he learned, was Shanghai's matchmaking alley and we had unknowingly stumbled right into the thick of it.  Various elderly people approached him inquiring eagerly if he was looking for a wife.  It's Sunday afternoon at the Marriage Market, and Shanghai's mothers and fathers, concerned for their children's single status, have posted information concerning their sons or daughters, eagerly looking for a suitable match.  What defines suitable?  Owning an apartment (please include size of the rooms in the apartment), holding a job, having a college degree.....height, weight, salary, education...it's all in there. Photos optional.

For those looking for a little nudge, enter the matchmaker. This man below has set up shop at the marriage market.  Here he is taking notes and consulting with worried mothers and fathers, for a fee of course.

And this is serious business. Apparently parents spend weekend after weekend at the Marriage Market - with or without the consent of their children, in the desperate search for a mate.

Apparently mom and dad really do know best!