Chinanews, Shanghai, Feb. 7 – As the Spring Festival (lunar New Year) is drawing near, some people are looking forward to it while others begin to worry how they can kill the time of the week-long holiday when everybody else is traveling somewhere or staying with their family members. The latter group of people are actually afraid of the long holiday. In Shanghai, a group of white collars now become even busier than usual at this time of the year: some are eager to change their jobs while others want to get married soon. Those who can’t tie the knot now would at least need to find someone now who can spend the long holiday with them.
Ms. Mei works in a state-owned company. But after the Spring Festival, she will quit her present job and work for a foreign IT company. She told this reporter that she started to look for her new job a year ago but she would stay in her present working post until after the Spring Festival, because she wanted to get her yearly bonus before leaving.
Like Ms. Mei, many white collars in Shanghai plan to hop to a new job at this particular time, wishing for a good start at the beginning of the new year.
For Ms. Qian, what concerns her most is how to find a boyfriend. She has decided to seek help from a matchmaking agent.
Ms. Qian, 29, is a charming woman and has a good job. Despite this, she still remains single. She said that this year, she would have to find a boyfriend to go home with her in order to make her parents and relatives happy. She has called the matchmaking agents nearly every day asking them to arrange for a dating for her.
Many matchmaking agents have a busy time at the end of the lunar year because many people, like Ms. Qian, are looking for a marriage partner to take home for the Spring Festival.
Those who don’t want to get married might post an article on websites looking for a friend who can spend the long holiday with them. A single young man recently posted an article on a website saying that he could be an “ideal candidate” for such business.
In order not to spend the holiday alone, Ms. Cheng, a 32-year-old single woman, recently posted an article on websites saying that she is looking for someone who can spend the Spring Festival with her.
