Watch: China's 'Marriage Market' Reaches Streets With Placards & Ads

Marriage market was supposed to be a metaphorical term for the practice of seeking the right partner. Advertisements in newspapers, connections with neighbours and extended relatives and marriage bureaus and websites - all formed part of the marriage market. But how would it be if there was indeed a 'market' for marriage? What if you wander near the street and you find posters of eligible bachelors on display? In China's Shanghai, each weekend, a market is displayed at People's Square where parents stand with placards stating the description of their single children and the kind of spouse they are looking for.

All About China's Marriage Market 

The 'marriage market' is held at a former racecourse where parents gather to find prospective spouses for their single children.

Some parents hold placards, stick advertisements on trees and make classifieds about their single children while other parents browse through all these to find the prospective spouse for their children.  This 'marriage market' has been running since 2004.

80 percent of the singles in the marriage market of China are women. Yet, astonishing enough, the singles themselves are absent in the market. It is because they are allegedly embarrassed to be put on display. So, their parents arrange the market or venture out to seek the right spouse for them.  

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The high standards of the right spouse

The standards on which the spouse is measured remain the same. Height, zodiac sign, age, education and income level. Some parents who have male children do not consider it important enough to bring a photo of their children because, of course...

Even though the competition to seek a prospective spouse is fierce with thousands of singles on display, parents don't budge from their high standards of the right spouse for their children. The market becomes a place of social interaction between parents. But the interaction is not about general things but about "Is your son/daughter single?"

Marriage over money

A five-month advertisement costs parents up to $3.20 and the marriage market brokers require a registration fee of $16 for unlimited phone numbers of the prospective match. However, money doesn't matter to parents as much as the marriage of their children. The market is mainly focused on parents with a single child. 

So, what do you think about this 'marriage market'? Well, it is not astonishing that a market has been organised for marriage. However, in my opinion, the outright display of a single's details on the pavement of parks or streets is contentious. The very fact that the singles for whom the display is being made are embarrassed to enter the market shows that the idea is against their choice.

Marriage once again became a business, quite literally

How will you feel if someone puts you on display in a mall or a market? Everyone is looking at you, examining your height, weight and more and rejecting you as not suitable or accepting you in return for money. Sounds weird right? Similarly, the 'marriage market' of Shanghai does no good to the singles. It only shows the desperation of the parents to get their children married. The standards, the advertisements and other stereotypes remain in place; only the area of their practice has moved to the streets making marriage nothing but a literal arrangement. 

 Views expressed are the author's own.