This article from the New York Times discusses an extremely interesting sociological conflict within China. Finding a spouse. Back in the day, it was a lot easier for people to find husbands/wives and get married because they only had a small radius in which to find them. There were tight controls over housing, employment, travel, and family life so finding someone to marry was not as difficult. Today, it becomes a lot harder because all of a sudden, those family connections and social circles are being torn apart as people uproot themselves from home and move to big cities for jobs. Now, the profession of "love hunting" is extremely popular. Love hunters are matchmakers who scour shopping malls and promenades looking for the right person for their client. In the article, it talks about a love hunter by the name of Yang Jing scouting women in front of H&M and she's being paid thousands of dollars by millionaires looking for a wife. Love hunting isn't just restricted to millionaires, many mothers and fathers of older men and women try to advertise their offspring in the hopes that they will get married someday. Men and Women are also trying online dating websites to find their prospective spouses since again, they're uprooted from their family life and have no other ways of meeting new people. Love hunting is now becoming a huge business in China thanks to the economic changes throughout generations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/business/in-a-changing-china-new-matchmaking-markets.html?pagewanted=2&ref=asia
The above picture demonstrates an informal marriage market, where mothers and fathers try to find spouses for their children. Many of these market dealings occur in parks throughout Beijing, this one is in the Temple of Heaven park.
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