People's Park occupies the middle of central Shanghai, on the site of the old racecourse, and it is an ordinary city park of lawns, plane trees, a lake and a lot of office workers on their lunch break. On Saturday and Sunday, in one particular stretch of paths, it becomes something quite different: parents and grandparents gather with umbrellas and folding boards spread with handwritten profiles of their adult children, advertising them to other parents in the hope of arranging a marriage.
How the market works
Each sheet is a short advertisement: date of birth, height and build, education, occupation, income bracket, whether the family owns property in the city, whether the candidate holds local residency status. There is usually a photograph, sometimes printed, sometimes held in a plastic sleeve, and often a line describing the kind of partner sought. The parents stand or sit by their boards and talk to whoever stops. Matches are made through these conversations, followed by a photograph exchange and, if things go well, a meeting between the two families. The whole thing is conducted publicly, soberly and with an efficiency that visitors tend to find both amusing and moving.
The park around it
Away from the marriage market, the park is a good example of how Shanghai uses its public space: ballroom dancing in the mornings, tai chi and badminton, calligraphy practised with water brushes on the paving, a pond with boats, and the Shanghai Museum and the city's main shopping streets on three sides. There is a small artificial hill with pavilions and a modern art museum on the northern edge. The park is small enough to walk across in fifteen minutes, and it is worth combining with the pedestrian shopping streets that meet at its corners.
Practical notes
The marriage market operates mainly on weekend days, morning to early afternoon; on weekdays the same paths are empty. It is in the centre of the park and easy to find by following the crowds. Photographing the profiles is intrusive and likely to draw a sharp response; ask before pointing a camera at anyone, and be aware that the people there are taking something quite serious. The park is free and open from early morning to late evening, with a metro station at its northern edge.
