Day 1: Marriage business

Since we managed to be late for the Forbidden City (we are good at managing stuff like that in my family), we walked into the park next to it, the ZhongShan Park (中山公园).

When walking there we encountered a crowd that were sitting and chatting in low voice. Many of them were holding small notes with age, sex, and a picture of a person. I at first suspected that it was a group of people that were missing relatives, for example the underground Christians or Falu n Gong, or something else very secret that I only read about.

It turned out that the people are parents that wants to find a suitable partner for their child. Then were sitting and chatting about astrology, family history, and other relevant facts when one's child is to get married.


We were quickly asked if I had a girlfriend. Since we are 6 unmarried siblings my parents could really be in business here. Look at my mums desperate smile "Man... we really need this too!!".



UPDATE: May 31 2005
Link to article in the Guardian:
Beijing searches for love among the park benches - with a little help from mum