Participants in the speed-dating section of the matchmaking party in Zhongshan Park. The city’s  biggestever matchmaking event attracted more than 4,000 young Shanghainese — and many of their parents.(Photo: Shanghai Daily) 

Parents' Blind Date for Single Children
You may often enjoy parties on weekends or during holidays, but imagine a grand gathering of 3000 couples with banners framed along with colorful photos and personal statements. What people in the eastern China's city of Nanjing will see on Saturday, November 12, is such a party, but with parents' blind dating for their single children, according to China Youth Daily. The newspaper reported Friday that such gatherings of parents have been flooding major Chinese cities like Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chongqing and Shenzhen.
For the Saturday gathering in Nanjing, enrollment began on November 7, 2005, with many anxious parents rushing into the organizer's service center.
Xu Xiaoming, the gathering's event planner, said in an interview that the staff was extremely busy answering phone calls from early in the morning, and ended pre-registration with more than 3,000 parents signing up their children's names.
The planner said women outnumber men in the group at a ration of two to one. Some parents even signed up their college children, with the youngest girl being 20 years old .
Parents said that they would bring their children along to the Saturday gathering in a park, according to the newspaper.
The newspaper reported that Japan has been providing parents with the blind dating service for their children for more than 20 years in the country's capital of Tokyo.
In China, Beijing was the first to pilot this kind of parents gathering.
The Beijing Evening News reported in September 2004 that a similar event was held at Longtan Park. The initiator, a Ms. Wang, called on parents in the capital to gather in Longtan, Zizhuyuan and Zhongshan Parks at a specific time.
Shanghai followed suit in organizing such parents gathering for their children through local matchmakers.
According to Xu Xiaoming, the Shanghai Municipal Women's Federation announced in early October this year that such a gathering would help 30% of the participants find the right dates, compared to the less than 10% of successful matches through commercial matchmakers in the city.

Shanghai Kicks off Grand Roman 2005
Meanwhile, in China's biggest commercial city, nearly 4000 white-collared men and women gathered in a park, according to China Youth Daily newspaper.
The gathering, dubbed "Grand Romance 2005" divided into different groups, namely participants born in the early-1970s, mid-1970s, and 1980s.
The 8-minute dating topped the other events, with lots of men gathered around the group of 1980s group-members. Parents accompanying their children were in high spirits outside the group party, after seeing optimistic and satisfactory facial expressions on their single children's faces.
All participants were numbered, with a booklet dubbed "Secret to Romance". Parents were eager to find targets for their children. A mother accompanying her daughter said that it seemed participants were presented better than the alternative commercial matchmaking services.
A young German man, who teaches in Shanghai, also joined in the gathering, saying that such a blind dating events are common for young people in his hometown.

China Meets Third Singles' Crisis
The newspaper also claimed that China is suffering a singles' crisis, quoting experts as saying that Chinese people are experiencing an ideological revolution in terms of marriage and family matters.
Wang Zhenyu, Deputy Director of Sociology Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said that nowadays, young people don't think it as a necessity to get married. Being single, he says, is seen now as an optional way of life.
Dr. Chen Huiping from the Women's Studies Institute with All China Women's Federation said that the previous singles' crisis, in the early 1950s and late 1970s and early 1980s, respectively, in the country were largely due to social factors, but now it reflects the changing values among the younger generations.
Many singles have chosen to remain unmarried, Dr. Chen noted, differing from previous generations.
Director Wang with the Sociology Study Institute analyzed that the younger generation does not intend, to some extent, to become engaged or get married, while their parents are eager to see them start a family at what they consider a proper age.
Ms. Chen Xinxin from the All-China Women's Association commented on the current situation, saying that a social sense of crisis for the increasing numbers of singles dominates over their personal lives. Young people have many more options in life, and choose not to follow the traditional Chinese culture of getting married at a certain age. Besides, today's people have developed various expectations for marriage and family life. These singles are joining singles' clubs, bars, group tours, among many others options in urban areas.
Single white-collard women are on the rise, according to Ms. Chen Xinxin. A 26-year-old-girl, working at an accounting firm, said she is like many other single women busy with office work, having no time to find, and date their boyfriends.
Another expert, Hao Maishou said that single women, especially professional women, have difficulty in finding their life partners. One reason is that they missed the chance to do it at an earlier age because of the burden of schooling or career development. Another reason is that many successful women desire to marry even more successful men.
Dr Chen Huiping from the All-China Women's Federation said that marriage will remain the norm in the Chinese social life. As for a single lifestyle, she noted that such a way of life should not be encouraged but treated with respect. After many years of being single, many of them will eventually choose to get married in their 30s, Dr. Chen has concluded from her research and social observations.