For China’s elderly singles looking for love, it’s complicated
- Some of Beijing’s older lonely hearts share their stories on a chilly October morning in Changpuhe Park
For Beijing’s elderly, Changpuhe Park, next to Tiananmen Square, has long been a popular spot for lonely hearts to meet and find a match for their twilight years, but the search for a companion is complicated, particularly for those without a sizeable pension and other assets.
Zhang Daisheng, a 65-year-old widower, wants to find a shrewd woman and, on one of his few trips to the park, met someone just like that. After chatting with him a few times she told him, “If you think we are a good match, then let's find somewhere private to talk, let's not talk here.”
Zhang said he realised the woman wanted to catch her fish, but was afraid of being bested by someone else. “That's quite smart,” he said. “She has schemes.” But despite its promising start, the relationship came to nothing. Zhang wriggled off the hook because her pension was not enough.
Zhang, a retired businessman, earns 5,000 yuan (US$700) each month while she received a meagre 2,000 yuan. “I want to find someone who earns the same as me, so we may travel, or live in Hainan in the winter. I don't want to lower my living standards,” he said. “Besides, she only earns 2,000, she could save all her money and just spend my 5,000.”
On a chilly October morning, similar conversations can be heard all over the park. A 77-year-old man briefly exchanges information with a woman, then says, “Let's go talk somewhere else, since you are here, it must be fate.”
On Tuesdays and Saturdays, elderly men and women from all over Beijing gather by the riverside to chat, dance, enjoy the view from the pavilion, and try to find a partner for the years they have left. It is a rare opportunity for senior singles to mingle, in a country where most dating platforms are aimed at the young and many older Chinese feel uncomfortable about actively seeking a partner.