ALTHOUGH 40,000 people gathered on May 26th and 27th for Shanghai’s Matchmaking Expo, Yu Bin doesn’t expect to find a wife among them. Mr Yu, a 26-year-old policeman, describes himself as conservative and is looking for a woman with “traditional virtues”. His attendance at the expo, the city’s largest yet, is a long shot; he would prefer a marriage set up by colleagues or by his parents. It worked for them 30 years ago, he says。

　　盡管5月26日至27日有四萬人參加了上海婚戀博覽會，但余斌(音)并不期望在其中找到另一半。余先生今年26歲，是一名警察，自認為是一名保守的男人，正在尋找一位擁有“傳統美德”的女性。他參加這次婚戀博覽會(盡管這是上海市最大的一次了)，成功找到另一半的機會相當渺茫；他更希望通過同事或父母介紹對象。他說，30年前，父母們的婚姻就是這樣建立起來的。

　　On the other side of the vast expo park, Fancy Huang is arguing with her mother. At 25, Ms Huang (who chose her English name herself) is two years shy of the dreaded age at which she will be branded a shengnu, or “leftover woman”. Her cousins are all married, so her parents are applying pressure. Ms Huang’s mother is stewing. “Sometimes my daughter says she would rather buy a flat by herself and live alone,” she says. “It’s so bizarre。”

　　在寬闊世博園的另一邊，范希•黃正在與她的母親爭論。黃女士(她的英文名是自己取的)今年25歲，再過兩年，她將會被人稱為剩女。她的表兄妹們都已經結婚了，因此她的父母正在催她結婚。黃女士的母親焦慮不安。她說：“有時我的女兒說她寧愿自己買一套房子一個人生活。這太奇怪了。”

　　Mr Yu and Ms Huang are just two of the thousands of young people trying to navigate China’s modern marriage market. At the expo there is no shortage of assistance. On one stage, a glamorous woman in a fuchsia minidress is hosting a public matchmaking session. A bachelor comes onstage and sings a song to 12 female contestants who hold up paddles with either a smiley or a sad face. Elsewhere, mass speed-dating events are under way. Dating agencies vie for singles to sign up. Their websites are wildly popular in China. One such site, Jiayuan, is listed on America’s NASDAQ stockmarket。

　　余先生和黃女士只是數千名年輕人中的兩位，他們正在試圖摸清中國的現代婚戀市場。在博覽會上并不缺少幫助。在一個舞臺上，一位身穿紫紅色短裙的美女正在主持一場大眾相親會。單身男子上臺向十二名女嘉賓唱一首歌，然后女嘉賓要么舉起笑臉的牌子，要么舉起傷心表情的牌子。其他地方正在開展大眾速配活動。婚戀公司相互競爭讓單身們成為自己網站的注冊用戶。它們的網站在中國廣受歡迎。一家這樣的網站——世紀佳緣網已經在美國的納斯達克股票市場上市。

　　In the past 30 years the Chinese search for a spouse has, like so much else, been transformed. Confucian thought emphasised a match’s significance for society rather than for the individuals involved. Though formal arranged marriages were banned in 1950, parents and colleagues continued well into the new century to help couples pair up (some still do)。

　　在過去30里，與許多其他事情一樣，中國人尋找另一半的方式已經改變了。儒家思想強調婚姻之于社會的意義而不是之于相關個人的意義。盡管在1950年已經禁止公開的包辦婚姻，但父母和同事幫忙相親一直持續到了新世紀(現在仍然是如此)。

　　The recent decline of such practices, especially in cities, in favour of choosing your own mate, has coincided with huge demographic shifts. China’s skewed birth ratio (118 boys to every 100 girls) means that there will be a surplus of about 24m bachelors by 2020. And women’s increasing socio-economic freedom makes them pickier when choosing a husband。

　　最近這種情況減少了，更傾向于自己找對象，在城市尤其是如此，這正好趕上了巨大的人口變遷。中國扭曲的出生率(男女出生比率為118比100)意味著，到2020年，近2400萬名男子將成為光混。而隨著女性在社會經濟方面的自由度越來越大，她們在挑選丈夫時將更加挑剔。

　　Mr Yu, the traditionalist, remains hopeful. “We just haven’t been in the right place at the right time,” he says of his putative partner. Other bachelors are less patient. Last month, the “Multi-Millionaire Seeking Spouses in Ten Cities Show” launched in the southern city of Guangzhou. Eleven Chinese millionaires are paying a luxury matchmaking agency 5m yuan ($790,000) for assistance. One of them, a billionaire, has particular requirements: suitable candidates should be aged 20-26, weigh less than 50kg (110lb) and have no sexual experience. So far more than 5,000 young women have applied。

　　傳統的余先生仍然滿懷希望。他在談到自己今后的另一半時說：“我們只是緣分未到而已。”其他單身們就沒這么沉得住氣了。上月，南部城市廣州發起了“億萬富豪十城求偶秀”。11位中國的百萬富豪支付500萬元(合79萬美元)，向一家豪華的婚戀公司求助。其中一位億萬富翁開出了特殊的條件：年齡20-26歲、體重不超過50公斤(合110磅)、純潔之身才可入圍。到目前為止已有5000多名年輕女性報名申請。