To the rest of the world, August 28 may be another annoying Monday to wake up early to go to work. And whilst everyone else chose to celebrate their love life and exchange chocolate and overpriced flowers a bit earlier, the Chinese will forever hold on to
To the rest of the world, August 28 may be another annoying Monday to wake up early to go to work. And whilst everyone else chose to celebrate their love life and exchange chocolate and overpriced flowers a bit earlier, the Chinese will forever hold on to the ‘better late than never’ saying.
Photo:quanjing
The Qixi Festival is widely celebrated by both the young and old in China; it is the Chinese Lovers’ Festival that seeks to appreciate happiness in marriage and how a married woman is treasured by her new family.
It is very necessary to celebrate a festival like this, especially in a country whose women will do what they can to find that charming and has-his-own-apartment 小伙 and men are known to be very kind hearted and doting on their partners- like I always see them carrying the handbags of their lovers, pampering their already spoiled spouses. These guys literally pay for everything! From dinner dates to train tickets to shopping at the supermarket. Over here, everyone wants to fall in love and be loved. And if matters don’t get too romantic, they just want to get married. But how does it feel to be on the other side of the line, living the single life?
Photo:ifeng
Photo:ifengApparently, it doesn’t taste as sweet as the Westerners brand it to be in this geographical area. On this festive day, be sure to expect a deal of traffic in urban China. But you will be wrong to think that all these millions of people are going out to celebrate with their lovers. Actually, the other half the youth would be on the lookout for love, busily hunting. Chinese singles have taken love and dating to another level by devising over the top methods just to find their soul mates. Ever heard of mass blind dating events? You will find these held at parks and stadiums in places like Beijing and Shanghai. And when I say mass, I mean mass! In 2014, a blind dating event recorded 13000 singles at the Shanghai Expo Park and that was just one event out of the many.
Photo:sina
They are literally chaotic and overly crowded gathering which may last the entire day and stretch deep into the night. The activities are just a spectacle. Ladies are asked to wash their faces off any makeup so that men can choose without any prejudice. There is this one game where the men do push up exercises while their potential partners sit on their backs. Everyone else waits to find out who goes the longest.
Photo:chinanews
Photo:Then there comes the part where there are literal CVs for dating! Event organizers display profiles about single men and women detailing their household registration, income, property, education, age and other information. Now, a ranking system has been established where singles are ranked as top, high class, standard, low, simple and no consideration and all of these are based on your worth, most of the time. For a single man to be ranked top high class, he must be worth more than a billion yuan, own a house within the rich estates, have his own car, must have a Master’s degree or must have studied abroad. But don’t get it twisted, a high class ranked single may be rejected just because of his/her Chinese Zodiac sign!
Some Chinese singles believe that mobile dating sites are just inappropriate especially when one is looking to settle down and get married, but to others it has opened boundless possibilities.
Photo:xinhuanet
Just this June, TanTan, one of the numerous dating apps in China, raised about 70 million dollars (not RMB) from fundraising alone. And in festive times like this business is booming for these dating app companies. Some other companies have taken it to another height by allowing members to hire fake girlfriends or boyfriends. On an event to meeting family members, having dinner, watching a movie on your sofa, going to the KTV or just feeling like going on a date with someone, this app helps you to achieve your goal by paying a meager wage for the service. Although you might think this absurd, others find it interesting and creative.
Photo:chinanews
But why all these hustles? Why does it have to be this hard to find a lover?
Well, a lot of young people are anxious now. That system where after you struggle with your school curriculum and then after get a well-meaning degree certificate so you can find a well-paying job then you look for a well deserving spouse to make well-mannered children with is not dead yet. Its like an evitable ladder you have to climb so that means skipping one line can cause you to fall. And no one wants to be the loser at the end of the ladder. People just want to get on with marriage-at a prescribed age you are expected to have someone in your life and when that hasn’t happened yet, it turns into anxiety. It’s even worse for women.
Photo:520apk
Speaking of being anxious, people get really occupied with work and making money that they forget they haven’t gone out on a date for close to a year. The modern, urban life is so fast and changing constantly. Once your eyes are set to a goal, it can come at the detriment of your social life. And that is why festivals like this serve as a reminder to singles that completely forgot that they are getting older.
Then there is the pressure from family members and friends. No mother would like her daughter to be labelled as a ‘leftover woman’ and that is the name given to women who are not married after their twenties in China. So even if they have to help their children to get suitable spouses just so the family name isn’t rubbed in the dust, they will. The pressure from family can be so immense that it turns depressing. Sometimes when you are consciously and painstakingly looking for love, even the right places to find them become wrong locations to find one.
