The Shanghai Marriage Market (Chinese: 人民公园相亲角; pinyin: Rénmín Gōngyuán Xiāngqīn Jiǎo; lit.

[2][3] The primary goal of attending the Shanghai marriage market is for parents to find a suitable partner for their child.

The standards of finding the right match may be based upon (but not limited to) age, height, job, income, education, family values, Chinese zodiac sign, and personality.

[2] Advertisements are also attached to paper bags, clipped to trees, taped on umbrellas, or laid on the ground across People's Park.

[2] As of April 2013, it cost approximately US$3.20 for an advertisement that is displayed for five months, and marriage brokers provide full access to phone numbers for a $16.00 registration fee.

[4] The majority of participants in the markets are young, college-educated women who work professional jobs and grew up in Shanghai.

These urban daughters represent China's new middle class but are often categorized as "leftover women" in these marriage markets.

Parents worry about their children's financial stability in a fast-paced, expensive urban center like Shanghai, especially without a robust social welfare system that provides housing and security.

The marriage market is an outlet for parents to share their private worries in a public space, something that traditional Chinese culture deems inappropriate in other settings.

Therefore, the market's primary function is to create social gatherings for seniors to share their collective worries in the changing environment of urban Shanghai.

[4] Other motivations for going to marriage markets include an emphasis on homogamy, as many parents only consider candidates from similar socioeconomic backgrounds as themselves and scepticism about their child's ability to find a suitable partner.