Parks turn marriage markets for China's "left over women"

China's sprawling public parks are turning into marriage markets where scores of concerned parents of "left over women" converge in weekends to find suitable husbands for their ageing daughters, state media reported today.
Armed with the resumes of their otherwise well settled daughters, the parents converge at Shanghai's People's Park every weekend in search of a match for their unwed daughters.
What is surprising is that in 1950, the average age for urban Chinese women to marry for the first time was just under 20.
By the 1980s it was 25.
Now it's about 27.
Such marriage markets exist in many cities here, and a closer look at the resumes reveals that many of the single ladies fall into similar categories: highly educated, career-driven, and not getting any younger, according to the China Daily.

In China, single women over 30, and even in their mid-to-late 20s, can find themselves branded as sheng nu, or "leftover women", and are often under intense pressure to get married.

Strangely despite heavy criticism of the phrase "leftover women", China's official media continue to refer to it, which many women describe it as demoralising.
As Chinese women climb the social ladder becoming more educated and earning higher salaries the pool of viable suitors is shrinking fast, the report said.
What's more, marriage at a young age has long been the norm in China.
So it's hardly surprising that women face criticism for choosing to stay single, especially as the countryside fills up with men who can't get married because they outnumber marriage-age women, according to the report.

It's not just moms and dads who want their grown daughters to find spouses, but also government agencies and academics, who see this massive group of unmarried women as a potential source of social instability, it said.
Many women have been accused in the media of being overly focused on finding men with bigger houses and fancier cars, instead of more down-to-earth prospects, such as true love.
The phenomenon has also fuelled a wave of dating shows that glut Chinese television.
In addition to the marriage markets, several Chinese television channels also run popular dating shows.
A 29-year-old marketing executive, who uses the English name Elissa, says her parents would like her to find someone, and she has gone on a few blind dates, for their sake.

But, she says, they've been a "disaster".
She'd love to meet the right man, but it will happen when it happens, Elissa told the Daily.