China’s “Comfort Class” | The Bling Dynasty, National Geographic Magazine: Juedui 100 Singles Event | Beijing, China

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Singles try to find each other at an event at amusement park sponsored by a web site (www.juedui100.com) that caters to Chinese singles. The web pages of prospective Chinese partners hang all over the walls and trees and there are so many that they have to be changed every few hours. Julie, the president of the company, says that she counsels folks about going for love over stability but no one listens. She says they all want to find someone with a good job, a house, and a car before worrying about loving them or not. Even with this counseling, there is a surreal scene where young singles get up on an AstroTurf stage and recite their particulars: My name is John, I am 28 years old and I have a condo with two bedrooms. I make X amount of money a year, and I have a 2006 Volkswagen golf with a garage. This is backed up by a China Daily report: If you’re a single male living in Beijing, you need to make a mental note of this figure: 1,068,000. No, it’s not the lottery payoff you dream you’ll win next week. It’s the number of yuan you’ll need to shell out to get married. It’s going to take you exactly 12 years to save the sum on the condition that you don’t spend a penny on food, lodging or anything else.

A housing unit, reasonably located between the Third Ring and the Fourth

Ring roads: Average price: 8,000 yuan per square metre, or 640,000 yuan

for 80 square metres.

Interior decoration: 150,000 yuan.

Furniture and home appliances: 80,000 yuan.

A car of medium price range: 120,000 yuan for a Hyundai Elantra. (No

decent girl would consider public transport.)

Honeymoon: 30,000 yuan for a trip to Maldives Island.

Expenses for two years of dating that leads up to marriage: 48,000 yuan,

which covers dining out, gifts, travel, and so on.

Altogether, it adds up to 1,068,000 yuan.