Too High for Shanghai

There were umbrellas all over the place but it wasn't raining. The variety of umbrellas were important for a reason- it was Sunday. And at the People's Square in Shanghai, the umbrellas come out and the flyers are taped onto it, as hopeful parents scout for future husbands/wives for their child. As the square was filled with bustling people yelling in Mandarin, I decided to partake in the marriage market- time to find a husband.

This turns out to be harder than it seems. As my American mind was trying to convert the height from meters to feet and inches, my friend Ena points out that all the Asian men were too short for her. I was too young for most of these people, but was impressed with some of the descriptions. One flyer brags that the child was studying abroad in the United States- intelligence as a very important factor to Chinese people, will find this impressive. As a person who doesn't attend school in the United States, I also found myself impressed.

We continued to walk through the market. A group of elderly men talk together in a huddle. I spot the quick exchange of flyers happen. I hope the son and daughter of those two men know that their parents decided to find them a lover in the same way you can bargain at the night market in Beijing. Either way I wish them luck in the future.

For the worried parents who could not make it to the marriage market, there was nothing to fear. There were flyers carefully clipped to bags and papers cautiously placed on a stair unguarded, brimming with the hope that someone will call the phone number that was scribbled on it.

I might be the youngest person at the marriage market. As parents talked in circles and shopped carefully for the perfect bride/husband, I'm slightly offended nobody asked me to take a flyer. I heard stories about my classmates who have also been to the marriage market, how enthusiastic elderly people proudly conversed with them in Mandarin about their children. Not only did I not find a husband, nobody offered me one. Time for me to write a flyer for myself. I already know what to write:

Name: Amata Lee
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Student at New York University Shanghai, studying Economics
Holds an American passport, can get your son one as well
Currently holds a zero salary, will hopefully be financially independent one day
Enjoys Netflix binging, singing on the streets, and eating.
Looking for a husband that will be the yang to her yin

Now to come back next week with my own umbrella.