3.1. AN ANNOUNCEMENT SEEKING MARRIAGE AND ITS RESPONDENTS

One day in May of 1988, an announcement seeking marriage appeared on Shanghai’s Xinmin Evening Paper: "A certain male, 34 years of age, peasant entrepreneur, annual salary over 10 thousand yuan, has a building of 400 square meters in the countryside, has private housing of 60 square meters with kitchen and bathroom in the city. Hope to find an unmarried girl of 24 to 30 years of age as companion, a resident of this city, knows how to socialize, can do secretarial work, good looks, has an education level of above high school."

Unexpectedly, only after three days, about 400 letters were received, and many of these were written by college students. Next we will introduce the circumstances of three of the girls among them:

Girl A is the first to meet with the person seeking marriage. She said: " I graduated last year from the TV university. It was the superior economic conditions that attracted me to respond. But the more important thing is, I like a man with accomplishment in his career, I am also willing to use the knowledge I learned to help him." Then, she asked the person seeking marriage many questions concerning business management. As the person seeking marriage was answering, fine drops of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Girl B is 26 this year, her eyes are big and round, has a very straightforward way of talking. She said:" I am going to night university. My idea is that I am not willing to spend my whole life uneventfully, and I like to take risks. I thought, a peasant entrepreneur who dares to come to Shanghai to find a companion, this is exactly a kind of risk-taking, this is exactly what I am after." The person seeking marriage said: "Although I have houses, those were built with borrowed money." Girl B said, "we can work hard and together pay back this sum of money."

The arrival of girl C is the most interesting. One day at noon, the person seeking marriage suddenly received a telegram. On it is written: " will be waiting at 7 PM on the 14th in Shanghai coffee house." There is no name below, there is no address either. Just when the person seeking marriage was feeling bewildered, he got another letter, on it is written: "would like very, very much to meet you. When the time comes, please take a paper of the day and look for a girl with a flower in hand." There was still no address and name. When that day came, the person seeking marriage finally met this mysterious girl. She said: "I am a student in a certain university, graduating this year. I am very interested in public relations. Aren’t you looking for a companion that knows how to socialize and can do secretarial work? I think I certainly can." The person seeking marriage asked: "What else can you do?" The girl answered: "I know how to speak English, Japanese, know how to type, dance, my calligraphy is also not bad. By the way, I also know how to drink. Will that do now?" "How did you hit upon the idea of sending a telegram? " I thought, your conditions are superior, there must be many girls to respond. Therefore, I thought of this idea, to show my social talent. Actually, I also wanted to try my abilities. Thank you for giving me an opportunity for practicing it."

Now, the person seeking marriage has already found the girlfriend to his satisfaction. They are madly in love.