Beijing’s “Magpie Bridge Meeting”: Parents Gather at Parks to Find Marriage Partners for Their Children - 中欧社会论坛 - China Europa Forum

Beijing’s “Magpie Bridge Meeting”: Parents Gather at Parks to Find Marriage Partners for Their Children

Authors: Wu Xin, Wu Ting

Date: 15 novembre 2004

Published by Beijing Morning Post

Abstract:

According to the message from Southcn.com, there is a special civilian meeting in Zhongshan Park, Purple Bamboo Park and Longtan Park in Beijing, and dozens of middle and old-aged people often get together there taking photographs and memos with them, and you can tell the reason by listening to their talking contents, it turns out that they are finding marriage partners for their children.

I. There are “differences” between man and woman in finding marriage partner.

The journalist find out the people in the “marriage interview” are parent generation. Some of them get together introducing each other and talking about their children, if both sides feel good, they will write down telephone numbers of each other. Among them, parents of boys often take the initiative getting about and asking and give a detailed introduction about their sons; but parents of girls relatively move less and only give a moderate introduction about their daughters.

II. Launch internal publication for exchange.

With the increasingly expanded scale of the magpie bridge meeting, these parents have launched a “newspaper” by themselves to publish basic conditions of their sons and daughters and telephone numbers, without any contact mode of their children, lady Zhao explains that this “newspaper” can be taken as an internal publication only providing necessary information to parents, and privacies of their children need to be protected.

III. “Magpie Bridge Meeting” is spontaneously formed.

It seems that the more parents know the magpie bridge meeting, and the more people cannot clearly tell how it is formed.

“Many people in this meeting are old friends actually, and they have known each other through morning exercise and mountaineering. So, when they are worried about his or her child that has reached marriageable age but had yet no partner, they could not help speaking to each other, as a result, more and more parents feel sympathized, and then they have thought up and put forward to hold a meeting of parents, gradually, it evolves into the existing form.” Aunt Sun says to the journalist. Later, more and more parents have known about the “Magpie Bridge Meeting”, so it is constantly expanded.

IV. Resolutely oppose intervention of marriage intermediaries.

In the journalist’s interviews, the words heard most often is “the pathetic are the feelings of all parents under heaven toward their offspring”. However, some parents also tell the journalist, “the thing will still be decided by their children, and sometimes, it is no use that only the parents feel anxious.” When the journalist asks the parents why they won’t resort to marriage intermediaries, they have all expressed their suspicion attitudes for marriage intermediaries, at the same time, very coincidently said that intervention of any marriage intermediary in the meeting of parents in the three parks is not welcome absolutely.

V. The children stick to their own viewpoints.

Then, as the interested parties, how do the young people think of this thing? The journalist has dialed the telephone number given by a mother, and her son answers the call and tells the journalist that he is not opposed for his mother to find his marriage partner in this way, and even he is willing to meet with a good girl.

VI. Expert thinks that the key is to rely on the children themselves

Yang Fengchi, the professor of Capital Medical University, thinks that, to great extent, it is not because the sons or daughters are too busy or their social circles are too narrow to find marriage partners but because some young people are not willing or have no opportunity to introduce friends to their own families at all. The offspring have grown up, and the parents can give them advices, but at the mention of existence, it still depends on the offspring themselves.

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