A new film by documentary director Sam Voutas called Shanghai Bride premieres in Beijing this weekend, with screenings on Friday April 13 and Saturday 14.
This is from the promotional blurb:
How can an average guy land himself a wife in materialistic Shanghai? Almost two eligible single males to every eligible single female. Increasingly picky middle-class women. The effects of the one-child policy, combined with a rapid revolution in China’s values and lifestyles, have created an increasingly selective society of middle class Shanghai women. For working class men, finding a wife is a quest that requires money, time, and the strength to withstand countless disappointments.
Wu is an electrician, earning 1,000 yuan ($125 U.S.) a month. His ex-wife left him to find a wealthier man, and he has spent a good percentage of his income on dating agencies and newspaper classifieds in the hope of finding a nice woman to grow old with. He must face the challenge of finding a wife in a town where one’s economic “hardware” defines one’s marriage prospects. Aileen, on the other hand, is part of a growing number of professional, independent Shanghai women who no longer feel the traditional pressures of marrying early. Like many Shanghai women, Aileen prefers foreign boyfriends, thereby completely skipping over local men like Wu in favour of finding a mate from “a higher standard.”
Shanghai Bride will be shown back to back with director Voutas’ earlier film Dragon Sons, Phoenix Daughterswhich follows three children from vastly different backgrounds on their quest to fulfill their parents’ increasingly high expectations.
You can see some clips from Shanghai Bride here. There is more information about the screening this weekend on the Cherry Lane website.