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Title:
The Process of Narrative Persuasion: The Making of Matchmaking in China
Abstract:
The matchmaking market in China is a public space where parents with unmarried adult children congregate and scout for potential sons- or daughters-in-law. Although the practice of matchmaking is drawing more and more international and intellectual attention, less is known about how this public practice of mate selection is legitimized and gets its prevalence. This study frames the matchmaking practice as a process of narrative persuasion where parents strategically replace their children’s individualized narrative of marriage with their public narrative. Drawing on interview data, this study qualitatively examines this narrative persuasion process. Results show that parents and professional matchmakers problematize the individualized narrative and then leverage the cultural tool of filial piety, with economic incentives attached, to reconnect their children’s mate selection behavior to the public narrative. As a result, young adults are successfully persuaded to participate in matchmaking activities. The findings imply that matchmaking in China is not only a marital practice but also an intergeneration process full of cultural strategies.
