Specials

No money, no marriage?

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-07-06 14:46

Editor's note: TV reality dating shows such as Jiangsu's If You Are the One and matchmaking events for women to compete for rich men have become popular recently, which raised concerns in China about people's obsession with money and the commoditizing of relationships. Has it become a challenge to the traditional Chinese moral standard? 

 

 

TV matchmaking shows: If you are the RICH one?                               

The Dating game by Jiangsu TV

The dating show If You Are The One (Fei Cheng Wu Rao) has created a buzz because of its morally ambiguous and visually electrifying format. [Full story]

We are on the wrong path of money worship

"I would rather cry in the back of a BMW than laugh on the back of a bicycle."

We have plunged into the pursuit of material success without any regard for moral guidance and just simplified the definition of social development as economic achievement. This growing money worship is taking young Chinese in a dangerous direction that may lead to the degradation of our society. [Full story]

TV matchmaking show runs afoul of China's morality campaign

China becomes more freewheeling and open, with people increasingly pushing the boundaries in matters involving taste, sex and money -- and the intersection of the three. [Full story]

 

 Dating competitions: Without the shoe, can you be Cinderella too? 

Elite dating game sign of unhealthy VIP worship

The harsh standards these wealthy bachelors set for the young women all expose their sense that money dominates. Those young women, who willingly accept the unreasonable requirements, rounds of selection and do not feel insulted and shamed, show they have already knelt down before money. [Full story]

Dating competitions reflect rampant money-worship values

China's much more conservative older generation have compared the search for millionaires' wives to the selection of imperial concubines in ancient times, with the new super-rich elite substituting for the old imperial family. [Full story]

One more way of choosing a partner

If such programs can help the rich find true happiness, we should not blame them. We should stop seeing the rich through colored glasses and criticizing every act of theirs. [Full story]

 

 

What readers say                                                                                           

Harrison, China

A realistic story that commonly exists in China today! Girls love money and make it a standard for choosing boyfriends, especially for marriage-they will not marry poor men. A new moral guidance should be built throughout the country. I'm Chinese, and I truly feel that the materialism in China is so heavy that most people spend their lives pursuing this to have a car, house or other luxuries. I think it's not worthy, for there are a lot of valuable things we should pursue other than this.

haha, US

I don't see how this is a problem. If a man demands that a woman must be beautiful to marry her, then the woman has every right to demand the man be rich. With China's economy doing well, any guy who doesn't have a stable income is either lazy or uneducated.

Jason, UK

This is truly a disturbing trend, and it has shocked me to see young women so open about using a man for his money in China. Gentlemen, I have one thing to say: If the only woman who will marry you is marrying you for your money, you are MUCH better off alone.