As a result of an organisational disaster in Shanghai on Saturday I had a lot of hours to kill. I went over to People’s Square where I was pleased to find an interesting event being held in the park. It was similar to the dating event in Nanjing that I stumbled upon several weeks ago but with an interesting twist. This event was for parents only! Parents go to the park with an advert about their child (sometimes strung around their neck) and walk around/sit patiently waiting to be approached by parents of prospective partners.
I saw a woman who had been approached by another. She was clearly interested in her son. They talked for some time and then the mother reached into the bag (see right) and got out a photo of him. The enquirer had a look at it, handed it back and just moved on – no polite remarks, no nonsense – just moved on to the next person. Now I’m not a mother but I would be pretty insulted if someone had done that. A child is a creation of the parents, it’s like saying “I’ve made this lovely cake for you, I have spent 18 years doing it and it’s now ready for eating”. The recipient then takes one bite, spits it out and walks away.
In 2005 China had more than 32 million excess boys under the age of 20 and trends show a very high and worsening male to female ratios in the reproductive age group for the next two decades (British Medical Journal 9 April 2009).
Consequently girls can afford to be very choosy. They look for height, for a good income and more importantly for an apartment. A boy who scores badly on these three criteria may be left with no-one at all.
So boys, if you have a face that only a mother could love, nothing more than a high school diploma and a low income, the chances of a beautiful girl saying “You’re one in a million” are a lot slimmer than her saying “You’re one in 32 million”.