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A market for marriage in Shanghai's People's Park
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At the People's Park in Shanghai, paper flyers advertise young Chinese people looking to get married.
Kai Ryssdal: The next time somebody tries to tell you that China's not a market economy, tell 'em this story -- see what they say.
Every Saturday, in a corner of People's Park in Shanghai, people -- mostly mothers -- show up with fliers and resumes and a stool, and they set up shop. Trees, benches, walls, even the walkways, are covered with what are basically want ads. It's parents looking for a suitable match -- for their kids.
It's called zhenghun: marriage seeding. And not, apparently, always something folks there want to talk about.
Woman talking
No pictures, she says, pushing my microphone away. Her daugher would be too humiliated, she tells me.
The whole thing's amazingly well organized. Parents can search for prospective matches by birth year, by height, by geographic location. After some looking, I finally find a mom willing to explain the whole thing to me.
Mrs. Zhao talking
It's a place, she says, where parents look for love for their children. Her daughter's 27, she's an architect, totally fine with mom doing the matchmaking.
Or so mom says. So long as she winds up with a guy born between 1967 and 1983.
Ryssdal: So she's looking for someone '76 to '83, so a little bit older. 1.73 meters to 1.8. She wants tall, right? She wants tall.
Five-foot-eight or taller please. If there's a match mom likes, the guy gets her phone number. After that, Mrs. Zhao says, nature has to take its course.
This all might seem like a lot to go through just to find your child a date. But even though China is clearly a society in transition, from deeply traditional to something much more 21st century, there are still plenty of people here -- parents, specifically -- working with a deadline. Get married by 30, or be an old maid. It's all about family and the very Chinese interpretation of it, Mrs. Zhao explains.
Get married, have kids, support grandma and grandpa in their old age. Now, what does all that have to do with the Chinese real estate bubble and the rising expectation of the middle class? That's our China theme for the day. We'll put it all together.
So enjoyed Kai's reports from China. I spent three weeks traveling in China this spring. Saw the marriage brokering corner in the Shanghai park . Also talked with vaiety of middle class people and rural people about their lives. Recently read "The China Price" about the growth and future of business there. Kai's reports are a perfect reflection of the China I saw and read about.
Wow. Is it possible that Kai Ryssdal could make economics sound any sexier than he already does? Why yes, yes it is. Because yesterday I found out that, apparently, he is also fluent in at least one other language - Mandarin Chinese. At least, I think that's what it was. All I know is that Marketplace wouldn't sound half as sexy as it does without Kai's voice (the main reason why I listen, of course). And now that I know that he is at least bilingual? Well, let's just say it's a good thing I no longer live in L.A. :o)
I'm not sure, but was Kai Rhysdal speaking Mandarin for this story? A reporter that knows the language of the people they are reporting on is much more likely to understand and better present the subject's point of view.
Also, it was really nice that you let the listener hear the entire response of speakers without turning down their volume and inserting an emotionless translator on top.
A majority of the world is bilingual wtih English as the most popular second language. Information is distributed world-wide. So your audience is not just the US and monolingual English speakers abroad. Kudos for recognizing this.
Sincerely,
Jeff Winchell
An American in Germany
