In the mood for love… but not marriage

In China, Taiwan and South Korea, where marriage and fertility rates have plummeted to record lows, anxious parents, concerned city officials and shrewd businesses go to great lengths to match singles up

SHANGHAI/CHENGDU/CHANGSHA – For the past seven years, retired factory worker Yang Quan has been religiously turning up at Shanghai’s sprawling Renmin Park every week to help his 35-year-old son find a wife.

The 65-year-old stands in a sea of like-minded parents in a section of the park, holding up a piece of laminated A4 paper that lists his son’s education level, job and height, hoping that it would attract the attention of another parent, a professional matchmaker or the rare single woman passing by.

The competition is stiff. On any given weekend, there are hundreds of people camped out at this “marriage market” from about 3pm to 6pm, all brandishing photos and resumes of their sons and daughters.

Hundreds of anxious parents throng a matchmaking corner in a public park in Shanghai hoping to find a match for their single children. ST PHOTO: AW CHENG WEI

“My son has not had much luck with women,” Mr Yang said of his only child, who works in a multinational corporation.

“I don’t think he has ever been attached. I’ve also exhausted my network trying to find him a match. That’s why I’m here to help him search for a partner, even though I know that hopes are dim.”

The matches that Mr Yang set up his son with over the years had all come to naught when WeChat conversations fizzled out, or dates did not go well.

As more young Chinese delay marriage or even shun it, more anxious parents like Mr Yang are showing up at these xiang qin jiao, or matchmaking corners, in the public parks of China’s major cities, from Beijing to Guangzhou and Chengdu.