In ancient China most people got married with the help of a matchmaker and the arrangements of their parents. The man's side, led by the matchmaker, would visit the girl's family to confirm each other's stance. This step is called xiangqin (to confirm attitudes).

Nowadays, there are millions of single people in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing, so the traditional practice of xiangqin, with more than 1,000 years of history behind it, has made a comeback in modern Chinese life.

Hundreds of parents of white-collar children gather together to choose suitable objects for their kids’ marriage in parks such asZhongshan Park, and Zi Zhu Yuan Park in Beijing. They bring information, including their child's name, gender, profession and requirements of marriage, and play the role of matchmaker. It naturally develops as a "meeting to choose the best person for their sons or daughters’ marriage."

However, most of the children do not even look at the pictures brought back by parents. Some of them think that it is their private business to find a mate. This highlights a difference in ideas about marriage between two generations with parents wanting to find a suitable person for their children to marry at odds with their children.

Besides the concern of parents, a single person's colleagues, schoolfellows, friends will introduce suitable mates for them. Also, speed dating such as 8-minute-dating is rather popular in cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou.

Some people choose to be alone and refuse to get married because of their busy life, indifferent attitude towards relationships, personality clashes, and other problems which cannot be solved easily.