With China's dipping population, some parents are forced to match their adult children with a potential mate so they could start a family. One desperate dad shows up at a matchmaker corner carrying 20 property deeds to help his son attract a wife.
According to Jimu News, the father arrived at a matchmaker corner in a park as he was ready to hand a dowry to a potential bride. It's not unusual to find these places in many busy spots in China's major cities and small towns as matchmaker corners are steep in a tradition going back to 2,000 years ago.
The desperate dad who showed up at the matchmaker site was recorded on video with a stack of documents. When asked, he told the matchmaker that the papers are actually land titles for his commercial properties that his son and his future wife will eventually own.
Expectations About Getting Married
Reports cited that the father wasn't there to brag about the properties. However, he took out the deeds and presented this to the matchmaker to show the family's sincerity toward his son's potential future wife.
The matchmaker, Wang, said that the son has a stable job and has good manners, which means he's quite the catch. His father, however, took matters into his own hands because he expected his son to be in a stable marriage before he reaches 30 years old, per the Insider.
It's not unusual for Chinese parents to have such expectations. In fact, unmarried adult women are expected to be wed before they turn 27.
Although China is still traditional, some local netizens reacted to the viral video, which has attracted almost 80 million views on Weibo, China's dominant social media platform. They said that there's too much pressure coming from the father, whose son might not even want to be married at all.
Other netizens said that the dad might only end up attracting a gold digger for his son if he keeps using the property deeds as collateral. Some Weibo users also believe that the son might have other issues if he's finding it hard to look for a person to marry.
A Grave Matter than Should Concern Government
The news comes as one political party in China said that the lack of interest in getting married from the younger generation should be treated as a grave matter by the government. Even countryside residents, who usually follow tradition, are no longer prioritizing having a family.
The National Bureau of Statics cited in the most recently collected data that there are over 20 million more men than women of the marrying age. In 2020, only 8.13 couples registered to get married amid the impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns, per the South China Morning Post.
Some of the suggestions to solve this problem include increasing programs for matchmaking services, simplifying the paperwork for getting married, and providing high-paying jobs in rural towns to attract more locals who can be potential mates.
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