China's Love Market

In traditional communist China, the Western notion of love simply did not exist -- or perhaps, existed only as a devotional term uttered preceding direct objects like 'Chairman Mao' or 'the Party.' Likewise, marriages of this era occurred exclusively by means of the unromantic process of filial arrangement. Yet, according to Xiao Jia Gu, writing in a New Statesmanpiece (that's unfortunately now behind a paywall), as communism concedes ground to empowered individual consumers in modern China's increasingly market-oriented economy, the imported idea of 'romantic love' seems to be increasing proportionally in value -- for better or worse.

The integration of the long-held (and rarely questioned) dictates of communism with free consumer agency, notes Xiao Jia Gu, has added an element of 'choice,' as well as a certain commodification of the individual, to the institution of Chinese marriage. For example, in Beijing, parents of marriageable age children meet routinely at a 'love market' to compare their respective children's photos, work histories, salaries, and animal signs in an attempt to gauge compatibility, or, better yet, strike it rich with the likes of a 'diamond bachelor.'

For their part, actual marriage candidates -- likely, the products of faithful communist, one-child households -- often struggle more intimately with both the romantic and economic aspects of 'love.' Xiao Jia Gu highlights the young professionals, 'some with PhDs' among them, who find consolation through attending a self-proclaimed 'school of love.' And even though the class's teacher espouses accessible romantic ideals, he does so for a market fee, because, as Xiao Jia Gu's laments, '[w]here there is confusion, there is also a business opportunity.'