Over 10,000 attend matchmaking fair

The Shanghai Love and Marriage Fair — the city's biggest matchmaking event — attracted more than 10,000 participants this year. 

As usual, it attracted many anxious singles and parents. A woman who identified herself as Auntie Liu was one of them — she was looking for a spouse for her daughter.

She made a point of asking for the information on each male participant she met at the event.

Living in Minhang District, it took almost two hours for Liu to get to the venue in the Pudong New Area. Her daughter, a 34-year-old auditor, however, wasn't at the event.

"My daughter was still working today, and she was too busy to seek a partner," Liu said.

"I was very worried because marriage seems to be increasingly difficult as she gets older, and I hope someone can take care of her because I cannot accompany her for a life time, and late marriage is bad for pregnancy," she said.

Jeccica Zhang, a 28-year-old advertisement company worker, was another who attended the fair. She said was under parental pressure to find a partner.

"My mother keeps talking and I usually turn a deaf ear. But I also want to make her happy."

Zhang said she did not see anyone potentially suitable at the event.

"I would rather prefer someone who I meet at other occasions instead of matchmaking, which is sort of embarrassing," she said.

About 54 percent of participants at the event this year were women, and 52.4 percent were aged between 30 and 40 years old, compared to 47.6 percent aged between 23 and 29, according to the organizers.