{"id":3410,"date":"2013-10-07T15:54:05","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T14:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saporedicina.com\/english\/?p=3410"},"modified":"2022-02-14T10:45:05","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T09:45:05","slug":"the-singles-market-of-people-square-shanghai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saporedicina.com\/english\/the-singles-market-of-people-square-shanghai\/","title":{"rendered":"The singles market of People Square, Shanghai"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"singles<\/p>\n

After publishing The Chinese Sex Symbol: What are Chinese women looking for?<\/a> we received several messages of people claiming that if twenty years ago it was true that in China there was some pressure to get married as soon as possible, nowadays the situation has changed, especially in the big cities.<\/p>\n

Really?<\/p>\n

Even if I acknowledge that Chinese society has evolved tremendously in the last years (I’m not blind), the reality is that the pressure to get married is still there, even when it comes down to the so-called international metropolises such as Shanghai and Beijing. <\/p>\n

But I’m not here to waste your time with my theories. Today I’ll only expose facts. If there wasn’t any pressure to get married, how the hell are you going to explain the photos that I’m sharing today?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Welcome to the “Singles Market” of People Square, Shanghai. The market opens every Saturday and Sunday and the easiest way to get there is to get off at People Square Subway Station (\u4eba\u6c11\u5e7f\u573a\u5730\u94c1\u7ad9) and take the exit 9. You can reach the station through line 1, 2 or 8 of the Shanghai Subway<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"singles<\/p>\n

What’s the Singles Market?<\/h2>\n

The Singles Market (yes, I made up the name by myself) it’s the weekly meeting point where Shanghainese people that have a son – or a daughter – that isn’t married yet gather for the only goal of recruiting a suitable partner.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yup, instead of waiting forever for a marriage that may never arrive (or may arrive too late), the Shanghainese decided to take action and organize themselves to find a bride – or a groom – for their beloved child. <\/p>\n

\"weddingA wedding curriculum vitae with photo!<\/font><\/em> <\/p>\n

How the Singles Market works ?<\/h2>\n

It’s pretty simple. You prepare a “marriage curriculum vitae” of your son (or daughter), print it and display it at the Singles Market in the hope that the other parents will consider your “offer” and then arrange a meeting between your son and their daughter. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The purpose? Get them married as soon as possible. <\/p>\n

Of course you don’t have to limit yourself and just expose your son’s curriculum. You are very welcome to take action and check the curriculum of the potential matches for your son. You talk with the other parents, exchange business cards (it would be more exact to call them “wedding cards” but, hey, marriage is business, isn’t it?), set up a meeting between your children and hope for the best.<\/p>\n

What’s the best? To get a male heir of course. But a little girl would be ok too! After all we are in Shanghai, where women rule ; )<\/p>\n

\"singles<\/p>\n

What contains a typical marriage curriculum vitae?<\/h2>\n

After reading hundreds of them I concluded that the most common items of a marriage curriculum are the followings:<\/p>\n