A woman holds a sheet of paper carrying information about her daughter at the park. (Photo by WANG YADONG/CHINA DAILY)
A passing man who heard her words was visibly annoyed. "Then why does a man need to share his income with a woman?" he asked.
According to a survey of more than 50,000 single people nationwide, released last year by the dating website Baihe, nearly three out of four female respondents wanted their spouse's income to be at least double their own, while more than half of the men expected their wife to earn the same amount as they do.
Women outnumber men
A woman surnamed Cao has been active in the matchmaking corner for a year, looking for a husband for her 25-year-old daughter.
"If I hadn't started at that time, it would have been too late. Look, there are rows of women born around 1987 over there," she said, correctly pointing out that more women are available than men.
Many parents lament that their daughters are well-educated, pretty and have decent jobs, but traditional Chinese perceptions of marriage are cruel to women.
"It's totally fine for men to put marriage on the agenda after age 35, but women who haven't married by 30 are believed to be 'problematic', and as parents we feel embarrassed in front of relatives and friends," said a woman, who only gave her surname as Feng.
"Our daughters are 25 when they gain a master's degree, and are about 30 when they reach a certain point in their career. Many of them won't consider a serious relationship before then," Feng said.
According to a 2014 survey conducted by the dating website Jiayuan, which polled its 90 million users, men prefer a partner four to eight years younger than themselves, while women usually look for a partner who is three to five years older.
A 60-year-old Shanghainese surnamed Jiang, one of the founders of the matchmakers' corner in 2005, finally found a Mr Right for her daughter after nine years at the market.
"They first met over a lunch and then he asked my daughter out for a cup of coffee that same evening. When I saw that my daughter had put on light makeup for the evening date, I knew they had clicked," she said.
