Courtship in a Park

  I would first like to say that I have been taking a small break from my blog, I am going to finish my travel adventures soon (still have the most exciting parts to come). I would also like to note that blogs about new places become more difficult to keep up once that new place feels like your home. Which I would hope it would feel like after spending almost six and a half months there. However, the great thing about a different culture is that there are still those moments when something happens and you are surprised and once again look at the world around you with new eyes.

  I recently had my best friend from the states visit me and it was nice to have someone around that I have known and has known me for more then six months. I could make references clear back to high school and she would completely grasp what I was meaning. It was great. It was also nice to see China from her eyes. She would comment on things that I had become use to or forgot about. Also, I just liked saying "Welcome to China" whenever she asked or commented about something that I couldn't explain or was a general occurrence in China. She probably got tired of me saying it. She also reminded me of home and the foods that I have been denied since arriving here. About a week before she returned home, she, who had only been here three weeks, started naming off foods she already missed, such as tacos. Whenever she would, I would of course tell her to stop making me sad since I would not be able to taste the deliciousness for another five months at least. It was great having her visit.

  So the title of this blog is about Courtship and the park. I write this because one of those 'moments' happened in Shanghai when I was there. I had gone with some friends to see a museum and a bookstore and we happened across a main park in China that looked so interesting we checked out what was happening inside. There were a bunch of older people with umbrellas opened on the ground in front of them with paper attached. I asked my Chinese friend what was going on and he told me it was grandparents looking for a spouse for their child. This was held every Sunday. A Matchmaking Event.

  There are reasons for this, one being that the actually people wanting to get married are too busy to look for a spouse themselves. Another is that grandparents are usually the ones with time free to do the looking. In China parents and grandparents still have a larger role in choosing spouses for their children then in America. It is not an arranged marriage and the young people have every right to refuse the person. It is more like the grandparents do the searching then bring home the information to lay it out for their child to look at. Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles introduce their children to prospective spouses through their friends or acquaintances. A grandmother comes into contact with an aunt who has a 'good' nephew so they introduce them to see how things go. Marriage has also been compared to more of a business contract and a family marriage by some of my Chinese friends. Not sure to the exact extent this is still practiced.
  I will tell you some things that I have realized. If you are between the ages of 23 to 24 to 26 or 27 you should be looking for  a partner. If you pass this age and are a women then you will have a more difficult time finding a 'good' guy because all the good guys are taken. Guys get married later in life then women, around 26 to 28 or 29. They are also responsible for providing a house. Chinese singles also have family pressure to marry since parents and grandparents will be relying on him/her for their futures, they also want grandchildren and in a society where a one child policy was enforced there is only one path to grandchildren.
  The pictures below were of the park. You can see the umbrellas with the white paper telling the general information about each person. You usually found their birth date, their height, and their occupation. I realized this would not be a good way for me to find a spouse because I would decided which ones to read based on the color and style of the umbrella. Which I am sure would be an excellent way to pick a husband. That is probably why the grandparents do the searching. Would you be up to let your grandparents go spouse hunting for you?