Was this a supremely lame April Fool’s Day stunt, a Marilyn Manson video shoot, or exactly what it looked like: three young women standing outside of a cemetery, each trying to land a husband?
It was the third scenario, if Yangcheng Evening News (YEN) is to be believed, that stunned mourners this past April 1 at Luoshan Cemetery in Zhuhai, with three young women spotted standing just outside the gate, each holding a large, pink heart-shaped sign explaining just what kind of husband they hoped to find from among the crowds who’d come to sweep their ancestors’ graves.
“To marry someone with filial piety,” read each of the identical signs, followed by the same personal introduction:
I’m 22 years old, have a bachelor degree, and am looking for someone who preferably:
1. Is honest and upright, with filial piety above all;
2. Has ancestors whose names appear in the Waheaven Website [for online mourning of the dead];
3. Is under 30 years old, preference goes to those with a Master’s degree;
4. Has a proper job, has never been married and is a civil servant.
“You see greater filial piety among tomb sweepers,” said one of the three marriage-seekers, Xiao Guan, a sophomore at the Zhuhai campus of Beijing Institute of Technology. “Society is all about money these days, and we’re using marriage-seeking as a way to spread values of filial piety. I guess you could also say it’s a type of performance art.”
Xiao disagreed when asked if all this was just to get some attention, but did admit that playing the marriage proposal card did make it easier for her to get the filial word out.
“Is it worth it,” asked the YEN reporter. “Can you find your destiny here, just in one or two hours?”
“Maybe, I think it may work,” Xiao said. “It is decided by fate, it is hard to say.”
Tang Xin and Li Zi, two other juniors who took part, are students at the Zhuhai Branch Campus of Beijing Normal University.
The three ladies attracted lots of bystanders, Tang said, adding that while many people stopped to take a look “maybe they think we are too forward.”
“It’s not like real marriage-seeking”, said one mourner to the YEN.
