The western holidays that generate the most attention in China are those that lend themselves to shopping trips – for candy, cards, clothing and costumes. Thus Halloween and Valentine’s Day are big events.
This year Valentine’s Day falls on the final day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, the annual festival when most of China is officially off work and en route to visit family. That includes Beijing’s Civil Affairs Bureau – depriving lovebirds of the opportunity of filing wedding registration documents auspiciously dated February 14. (Last year, about 4,000 Beijing couples married on that day.)
Chinese lovebirds have a distinctly practical side. A survey released last month from leading online dating portal Baihe.com, based on online reader feedback, paints a picture of what young Chinese people say they are looking for in a potential spouse. The most sought after trait, according to both male and female respondents: stability.
Thus, although their smiling images often grace ads for Air China, China Southern, and other leading airlines, flight attendants – alongside actresses and tour guides were ranked by men as among the least desirable women to marry. Men also ranked female reporters negatively, as journalism is a profession that is both low-paid and risky in China. Women, meanwhile, indicated they were inclined to snub both farmers (low wages) and entrepreneurs (too unstable). Some exceptions may be made, of course, for China’s already well-established self-made millionaires.
When it came to a potential spouse’s paycheck, more wasn’t always better – if you were a man. Sixty-two percent of men said they would not consider a woman who made as much money, or more, than he did.
One 25-year-old woman in Guangzhou, who has just recently started dating her first serious boyfriend, a colleague in a different department at work, said that her beau may not be the most exciting or attractive, but more important, “He is very intelligent and disciplined, which I like. I think we can have a comfortable life together.”
Larson is a Bloomberg Businessweek contributor.
