Difficult choices

A sudden camera flash put Zhang Wen on alert.

Zhang, the father of a 33-year-old bachelor, visited the matchmaking market at the Temple of Heaven with his wife as part of their morning exercises. He resented being pictured at the market for fear of disgracing his son.

"He didn't complain about me going to the market, but I know he doesn't like this method and he never nods to the dates I have selected for him from the park," he said.

Zhang said matchmaking markets in public parks, including the Temple of Heaven, Beijing Zhongshan Park, and Beijing Chaoyang Park, are always filled with the elderly. A rare appearance of a juvenile face will immediately draw inquisitive eyes.

"I know the basic requests of my son. He likes slender, tall women who are three to five years younger than him," Zhang said.

"I also talk with other parents to see if we can get along," he said. "If they are not congenial, there are slim chances of our kids pairing up."

Zhang has introduced a handful of prospects to his son through the market by exchanging phone numbers with their parents. Together, they put their offspring in touch. But eventually, his son rejected them as they were "not his type".

"I find the younger generation strange in that they don't settle with a person who misses their criteria by one inch. They want perfection; while in my days, we are happy with a basic match," he said.

Data released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in August show that the marriage rate dropped for four consecutive years from 9.6 percent in 2014 to 7.7 percent in 2017, and the rate of separated couples has been climbing since 2010, reaching 3.2 percent last year.

For the unmarried, nearly 50 percent of them are "in no rush" to get married and less than one third are free from working overtime, a report jointly issued in August last year by professional networking website LinkedIn and online matchmaking platform Zhenai said.

"I understand that the chances of finding a daughter-in-law in a market like this is extremely low, but it doesn't hurt to try my luck and try his luck," Zhang said.