When I moved from London to New York City about a month ago, my top priority was getting off of my friend’s futon and finding an apartment. In this day and age, living in New York is not cheap, so I also had to find a roommate.
Since I had been away for many months, most of my friends already had their living situations settled, so it would be the first time I would share an apartment with a random stranger. I began to comb the “Shared Rooms/Apts” section of Craigslist, weeding out all the “420-friendly” posts (I was looking to live in Brooklyn).
I came across one that made me pause and re-read again and again [I am paraphrasing, I can’t seem to find the original post now]:
Successful male though not particularly attractive in finance seeking attractive female roommate under 30. Rent and food covered and maybe some other expenses.
While I was more tickled than shocked – this is New York City after all and it could have been a joke even if I had a feeling it wasn’t– it reminded me of a Sunday New York Times article I read two weeks ago about the dating demands of Chinese millionaires.
After spending some time in Beijing, I’ve been warned about how practical the Chinese are with dating – on the first date, couples interview each other like for a job to make sure all the boxes are ticked on compatibility. Having an apartment, or assets, is usually a requirement for Chinese women and they are not bashful about asking.
China’s richest date no differently, except that they have a match-maker, known as a “love hunter,” to find them suitable wives:
“The love hunter who finds the client’s eventual choice will receive a bonus of more than $30,000, around five times the average annual salary in this line of work.”
The New York Times had a partial explanation for this. They wrote:
“Three decades of combustive economic growth have reshaped the landscape of marriage in China.”
I can’t help but wonder, thinking of the lonely but rich, ugly man posting on Craigslist: Hasn’t capitalism, economic growth, reshaped marriage and relationships for all of us?
I guess the difference is that in the U.S., such practices are frowned upon. We have a term for it – “sugar daddy” – and there are apparently websites out there explaining how women can find legitimate ones. In China, it seems, in this busy, modern day and age, marrying rich makes perfect practical and commercial sense.