Secrets of China (2015) s01e02 Episode Script
Desperate For Love
1 'I'm Billie JD Porter, and I'm going to show you a China you have never seen before.
'A population of 1.
3 billion 'means one in five of the world's people live in China.
'My mission? To get inside the world of weddings 'in a country where marrying young is not a choice, but a duty.
' I feel really emotional.
'To take on the challenge of being a single girl in a nation 'obsessed with love.
' Alone at the back, as per usual.
A toast to me.
Coming? 'To find out why people my age go to such extremes 'to find that special someone.
' Quite brutal.
'And to track down the people prepared to go to jail 'for protesting against the pressures on young people 'to settle down.
' I start my journey in Hefei, southeast China.
This is a government-sponsored marriage market.
What's that? Here, people use these handwritten personal ads to find a serious partner with marriage potential.
Oh, my God.
'Single and ready to mingle myself, 'I decide to join the other thousands of people 'here on the quest for love.
' I think that this is guys reading all the girls' details and then taking numbers.
No.
- He is very handsome.
- I love you.
You're a bit forward.
You're even more forward than me.
Do you know what "I love you" means? So, why are you here? So, why should I go on a date with you? OK.
What else? A dying rose.
OK.
I am going to scout out the competition.
But then maybe we can exchange numbers later.
Fair play.
Confident.
You are confident.
My hobbies.
Should I lie about a hobby to make myself seem better? I think you can lie to make you perfect.
- Charity.
- That's great.
- And what is the last question? - What is your standard? - What are you looking for? - OK.
Right.
Funny.
Clever.
I don't care about salary.
In China, most girls put that first -- like, priority -- for marriage or for a boyfriend.
Well, I've probably got You know, I'm doubling my chances of getting a date if I don't care about that.
Oh, I see.
How do you tie it on? Yes! All right.
I'm going to stand here and see who goes for it.
Who are you looking for? OK.
Why do you think that your son hasn't found a girl for himself? Does he know that you're here? Ah-ha! OK.
Yeah.
Why do you want him to get married so much? What sort of girl do you want to find today? What do you think that the girls are looking for in the boys? And do you have a house? Do you think that it's impossible to find a wife if he didn't have this house? It is very different to the West.
There are no requirements.
Mei you requirements It's You're going to find a wife.
Hey! No-one has a house or a car where I'm from.
It is really hard to raise a son.
Seeing that woman break down into tears really hammered home how truly important it is for people here.
She is terrified that he's not going to find a wife.
It It seemed to, like, truly sadden her to her core.
But imagine being her child, stood next to her, how much of a disappointment you'd feel if you had led one of your parents to feel like that.
For me, marriage is all about choice.
Here, it feels like an obligation.
As I read through the cards, the desired criteria isn't exactly romantic.
Women want men with their own house, a car and, of course, a high salary.
Guys are after good-looking, obedient girls in their early 20s.
Maybe I didn't fill my card in right.
No texts.
Pathetic.
I've been here all day.
I'm going to have to go and get that guy, aren't I? The one who said he loved me.
Well, let's go get his number.
He's still there.
No! Is even HE gone? He was here Where has he gone? I wonder if my thing is still there.
Where is my one? Right, I'm looking for me.
There has been some foul play! Maybe it was the guy who said he loved me.
He wanted to tear me down so that no-one else could get a slice.
I was too big-headed.
And I thought that I was going to get someone better than the original guy.
The grass is always greener, isn't it? I feel like I seriously underestimated the realities of finding love in China.
Out here, people of my generation are under massive pressure to live up to the idea of the model bride or groom.
Fail, and you are alone.
I'm heading to China's capital, Beijing.
I want to find out what it takes to tick the boxes people need to be considered marriage material.
I'm on the prowl, as usual.
I'm going to commando roll out of the rickshaw if I see a hot guy.
Oh, God.
China is responsible for the biggest economic boom in history.
In many ways, it feels super-modern.
But marriage tradition still holds strong and many men in this city struggle to attain the material assets a husband should have.
House prices are soaring and the competition is fierce.
There are over 20 million more men than women in China, a hangover from the one-child policy and the country's preference for sons.
These single men are so desperate for a wife that they have come here, a seminar aptly titled Understanding Women.
'I've been asked to talk about what marriage means to me.
' I think that, over here, it tends to be more based on material things, like having a house or a car.
But that's not important to me.
I probably just come across as having incredibly low standards, by the answers that I gave.
"It doesn't matter if you don't have a car.
It doesn't matter.
"Don't worry about anyone else, it's fine.
I'll date you.
" I don't think that I maybe have a typical Chinese mentality when it comes to dating, but then, obviously, I'm not I'm not being pressured by my family to get married by 25.
Quite the opposite.
The sense of competition seems to leave them with this, like, crippling insecurity.
It's pretty sad.
With the session over, the instructors now work one-on-one with the clients.
Gordon has a good job in IT, but he struggles to even talk to the opposite sex.
This haircut is to boost his confidence.
Are you going to keep the soul patch? I don't think you should.
- How old are you? - I am 34.
- 34?! No.
OK, maybe you should keep it.
34 is I hope you don't mind me saying, but by Chinese standards, that's pretty late in the game to be unmarried, isn't it? Absolutely, yes.
Yeah.
Like what? No! Don't change your personality! Gordon is so eager to find himself a girl that he's agreed to take part in a hugely nerve-racking challenge.
To succeed, Gordon must approach girls on the street without freaking them out and walk away with at least one phone number.
He is wandering aimlessly.
He looks like a weirdo.
The teacher's giving him a motivational speech.
Oh, OK.
He is going for it.
He is going for it.
Oh Quite brutal.
He just tapped her and she was like You should wait until the night-time when everyone is pissed.
Listen to me -- predator! He's not letting one rejection get him down.
Oh, OK.
That's the second.
Come on, Gordon.
He's got a number.
How are you feeling? - Amazing? - Yes.
They are not trying to get these guys laid or turn them into, like, you know ladies' men at all.
It's about finding someone who you want to start a serious relationship with.
It is also about just improving their confidence.
And I think that the looks on their faces, even after they got one girl's number, just goes to show it is a huge self-esteem boost for them.
And I think that's really important.
For single women, the challenges are totally different.
On a shopping trip to a local mall, all I can seem to find is childish tat, which, naturally, I love.
You see these girls, you know, like my age and older going around with these foam faces.
Babyish.
Back at the dating event, men were looking for a wife no older than 25.
And here the pressure on girls to look young is also undeniable.
I've got this skin-whitening, like, bleaching mask as well.
It's got a baby on it.
Everyone's obsessed with being a white baby.
He only wants you when you're 17 I think that the aesthetic across a lot of Eastern Asia, like China, Japan and Korea, seems to be a kind of Lolita-ish vibe.
Sexy schoolgirl, almost.
Which is pretty sick when you think about it, but It-It's like a doll.
Big eyes They do loads to Oh, I popped a spot earlier, it's disgusting.
This is an extra big contact lens.
If you look, my right eye is a lot bigger than my left.
It's incredibly uncomfortable.
Oh! Just get some tissue for my tears.
Stayin' in my play pretend Where the fun ain't got no end I've done my best to look a bit more fashionable by Chinese standards.
I'm not sure how it's working out, but I've got the contacts, the false eyelashes, um .
.
some, like, rosy cheeks to make me look like a child.
Need someone to numb the pain 'I don't think it suits me.
' Need someone to numb the pain I've got a stunning panda selfie stick here, so I'm a fully-fledged Chinese girl.
OK, OK.
'This may be an extreme look for me' I look like an anime character! '.
.
but many girls here go a lot further.
' 'And it's no surprise.
Wherever I seem to go in China, 'there's always one thing that's advertised relentlessly.
' One, two, three, four Another advert for plastic surgery here.
Everywhere! This is Lidu Clinic.
I'm here to see Dr Xu.
'It's part of a national chain of palatial cosmetic hospitals.
' It's a £1.
5 billion industry, and business here is booming.
Posh! 'Staff say one of the reasons girls undergo surgery is to increase their marriage potential.
So this is the eye surgery page, which is massively popular in China -- across Asia, actually.
The aim is to have a like, a double eyelid.
Instead of the kind of heavier bit of skin that they've got, which I personally think is really attractive.
Some decidedly Western beauties up there.
There's Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Portman.
Another Marilyn Monroe photo.
Marilyn Monroe had a lot of cosmetic surgery.
One of the first pioneers of the rhinoplasty.
One of today's patients is 22-year-old Yang Yo, who's having a nose job and double eyelid surgery.
The style of the surgery, correct me if I'm wrong, but is it an attempt to look a bit more Western? Because to have a you know, kind of a pointier nose and, like, a bigger eyelid, it is kind of a Western look, no? Do you think that, like, boys find the Western look more attractive as well? You must already have loads of boys chasing you around, because you're really, really pretty.
No boyfriend? I understood that.
I only know a few words in Mandarin.
Beer, boyfriend Those are the two main ones.
What age do you hope to be married by? Do you feel pressure to be married by that time? Yang Yo, who's my age, seems to really believe that changing her face will help her secure a man and settle down.
Senior surgeon Xu Bing will be performing the operation, and double eyelids are the most popular item on his sales list.
I don't know.
Just to be clean in the theatre? I'm just copying you.
Do you think that she's got a better chance of getting married with double eyelids and a bigger nose? Come in, come in.
Unbelievably, these two procedures are happening under local anaesthetic.
No general anaesthetic, so she's actually going to be able to see the scalpel as it, you know, approaches .
.
her face! A general anaesthetic is dangerous.
I guess people avoid them wherever they can, but surely she'll be able to, like, punch his hand away if she gets scared.
I don't even think I'm going to be able to watch.
It's not just a pressure to find a boyfriend.
Even at work, it can help you get ahead, and Pretty brutal over here in that respect.
People in an office will respect you more if .
.
A, you're married, and B, if you look a certain way.
- Ni hao! - Hello.
Was that scary? In Beijing, if you're single like Yan Yo, you really feel it.
Couples have special status here.
They even have their own districts to enjoy, like Shichahai, an aquatic Lovers' Lane.
It's extremely romantic.
Lots of couples on pedalos.
There's a guy swimming there.
Brave.
I think that's the only other single person here, so I'm going to get in.
Couples march around smugly in matching outfits and the joys of marriage beam down at you from every street corner.
Give it up for me, please Put your hands in the air So what is it I'm missing out on? And what's getting married in China really all about? Would you please clap your hands Now get up on your feet This is our new apartment, and, um, we've just finished the decoration.
- OK.
- So we haven't moved in yet.
So it's the marital home? - You'll move in after you're married? - Yeah.
Are going to carry her in? Like, over the threshold? 'Faye and Anson skipped the marriage markets and met online.
'They're due to marry in five days.
' It's nice! It's big! I like the floor.
'Like the perfect Chinese gentleman, 'Anson's provided his fiancee with the marital home and car.
' Wow! Are these, like? Are these? Is this, like, special wedding bed sheets? - Yeah.
- Are they for, like, different days? Different days, and different colours - means that your life will be very colourful.
- Oh, wow.
What about these terrifying? These two mean that your bed that cannot be empty.
They're quite scary.
A little bit.
I think so.
But my parents insisted to have them my bed.
Silk bed sheets in, like, Western culture is seen as kind of like - I don't know.
Like pimp-ish.
Do you know what I mean? - Pimp-ish? - Like sexual.
- Oh, OK.
To have silk bed sheets.
Um, but then they look so cool! 'Pride of place in their new home are dozens of professional photos, 'documenting Faye and Anson's love.
' - Is this a wedding photo? - Yes.
- Like, pre-wedding wedding photo? - Yes.
- Aww! Cute! MUSIC: Underwater Love by Smoke City This must be underwater love The way I feel it slipping all over me Here, once you've found somebody to marry, you enter the world of China's extraordinary wedding industry.
O que que e esse, amor d'agua I think this is just a video.
This is really confusing, this glass.
I don't know how far away they are! I've got access to a studio that offers every scenario imaginable for these all-important pre-wedding wedding photos.
Follow me now To a place You only dreamt of Weddings in China have become absolutely massive.
Wedding photography in particular.
And it seems like there's nothing a bride won't do to make sure that she's got the most impressive album to show her family and friends.
I like that one.
This certainly isn't my idea of romance, but each to their own.
I've been instructed to "look prettier".
So here's me trying to do that.
Un, deux, trois 'My morning as a mermaid is done.
'Next up, I have a gig assisting on the studio's most popular set.
' This is so weird! 'I want to find out why people go to such lengths 'to create these fantasy images.
' Nose to nose.
Nose to nose.
'This is my contact, Mr Zhou.
'He specialises in creating replica foreign worlds -- 'Europe, Korea, Japan.
' Hello! Hi! - Yes.
- Yes? - Yes, yes.
- OK, this is my couple.
OK, hello.
Nice to meet you.
OK.
Apparently, there are 40 couples here today.
It's very, very hectic.
- More Coca-Cola.
- You've got lots of assistants.
- More Coca-Cola.
- You want a Coca-Cola? - Yeah! Yeah! Give it to me.
Thank you.
I'm a bad assistant! She doesn't want me to touch it now.
Sorry! Sorry! So many different couples here getting photographed, I'm sure that I'm going to be, like, accidentally in the back of one of their pictures.
- This bit - OK, OK.
Perfect, beautiful.
Where is he? - Do you want me to help you? - Oh, no, no, no.
- OK.
She's learnt, after last time, not to bother.
Is it like a Bible scene? I wouldn't be able to tell you what era this is supposed to be, even.
My history's terrible.
What's going on in this? Stuck down here.
I don't think it's any of these couples' relatives.
They don't look Chinese.
There's a barcode on it, actually.
These books aren't real.
They're just cardboard boxes.
And they're all the same.
It's all The Count Of Monte Cristo.
Ugh! No, that's not! Thank you.
OK Why are the pictures so important? So it's about reputation? Do you think that these photos, the moments you're creating Is it romantic? And, when you get married, are you going to do an album like this? What country would you want to go to? - Tahiti.
- Tahiti? - Tahiti.
- For your pictures? - Yeah.
£500 is what someone of a good or, like, decent income in China would spend on this album.
But the really, really wealthy actually fly to Europe to take the photos.
You know? Next to the real deal.
No cardboard-box books for them.
Have I been a good assistant? - Yes, very good.
- Very good?! - Fantastic! Am I still allowed to try on a dress? - OK.
- Can I? - OK.
OK, all right.
Strange love Even though you hurt me I feel blessed I feel really emotional.
I behaving as though I'm actually going to get married in this.
I just wanted to see what one would look like.
I'm just going to choose one.
Can I have a veil? I've gone like a psycho! Trouble's what you bring, strange love I want to get married! A dress, a couple of photos, and I'm hooked! But not everybody here gets sucked into the whole marriage thing quite so easily.
Over the past 20 years, China has fast become one of the world's richest countries, and has produced more self-made female billionaires than anywhere else on the planet.
Money and new confidence have led many high-fliers to challenge the pressure to marry young.
Here, if a woman is over 28 and still single, she's labelled a "leftover".
That feels pretty cold.
I've come to meet a group of these so-called leftovers, including Fu Shin and architect and lawyer, Virginia Tang, to talk singledom in China.
Asia, more than other parts of the world, there is a huge premium placed on beauty for a woman, so, therefore, obviously, the natural association is as a woman ages, she'll be less beautiful.
That's why, you know, they say, like, a woman's value depreciates as she grows older, regardless of her other achievements.
And I actually think that is both unhealthy and dangerous.
We meet so many girls and women and they are young, you know -- they're not late '30s, they are in their early '20s and they are calling themselves "leftover".
From my Personally, I want to define my own self and who I am and what I want to achieve in my life, but the voice from society is even louder than yourself, so sometimes your own voice just keeps down, down, down.
For sometimes, I'm really proud of myself because I came from a very poor hometown.
I studied very hard and worked very hard until now, I am architect.
I have a good salary and I can do whatever I want to go.
When I came home, I'm just a loser.
'Totally loser.
' I'm shocked that someone as cool as Fu Shin could be called a loser by her parents and a "leftover" by society.
Today, after work, she's collecting me to show me her favourite spot in Beijing.
- Hi.
- Hi, Billie.
- Hello, how are you? - Great, how about you? - Yeah, I'm OK.
- Here is some small gift for you.
- Caffeine gum.
- Yeah, I saw you were very tired.
- Military energy.
I am very tired.
I'm a mess.
The conflict with her parents means Fu Shin no longer goes home for the holidays.
I mean, Spring Festival, Chinese New Year, it's a massive deal over here.
I guess it's like the equivalent of Christmas.
And how did they take it? - My father got angry.
- Did he? He just said, "Why can't you be like other people? "You're just so different," you know.
"Different", not in a good way, different.
And that word made me very upset and feel sorry about myself.
I think that what you're doing is amazing and I think it's really, really, like, important for you to make your own decisions - and I think it's good to be different.
- Thank you.
'Fu Shin tells me that she grew up with her parents in a "hutong", 'a traditional area, like this.
' 'She earns enough to care for them now, 'but in their eyes, a leftover daughter is a dishonour.
' You seem quite, like, chipper and happy as a person.
Do you ever get really upset? Does it really get to you sometimes? It's not the proudest thing to say I'm single, I'm still single.
I'm over 30, I'm still single.
It's not something you should be proud of in China.
I'm struggling with this kind of thing and sometimes I am really tired about it, because a lot of people tell you, "You should do this, you should do that", but, no I always follow my heart, but for some Chinese people, they say it's crazy.
How is it? Strong? I like it.
Do you want to try? I'll have some Between The Sheets.
You can have some Pure Love.
- This one is stronger.
- That is very strong.
You're going to get wasted.
- Oh, look at the buildings! - Yeah.
In amongst the endless hustle and bustle of Beijing, you see the older generation, survivors of brutally difficult times when food was scarce and luxuries non-existent.
Their weddings cost almost nothing, consisting of a cake and a pot of tea.
Today, it couldn't be more different.
For couples like Faye and Anson, it's all about splashing the cash.
It's the final fitting for Faye's dress and I'm curious about how much all of this is costing.
Beautiful.
Oh, my God, you're tiny.
- It's quite tight.
- Your waist is so small.
- What do you think? - So beautiful.
You chose the dress.
What made you go for that one? How much is your wedding costing, then? - Three to four years.
- No! - Three to four years of your salary? - Yeah.
What's that in numbers? - 500,000.
- Wow! - More than 500,000.
- So that's about £50,000 on one day.
- That's quite a lot.
So, you met online and then when did it go from talking online, to meeting in person? - About five to six years later.
- No way! It's like catfish.
When did you first kiss? Did you kiss on the first date? I kissed him, actually.
- I've been speaking to a guy online for a while.
- Really? - Yeah.
And we met a few weeks ago and I kissed him on the first date, as well.
- So, are you guys together now? - No, we're not.
I freaked him out.
- He said that I was moving too fast.
- Really? - Yeah.
There are a lot of couples out tonight, but I can't tell if I'm just noticing them because I feel alone.
No, I'm just a bit of a brat and I want things to happen my way and I guess, sometimes, you meet people who don't want relationships to move as fast as you do.
I stalk him on a daily basis online, but I think that that's relatively normal when you're pursuing anyone.
It's a really self-destructive element of social media and, like, the internet age.
It's also relatively impossible to fade someone out of your life.
Like, if you break-up with someone, you used to be able to be, like, "OK, delete his number, not going to think about it", but now, if you're, like, wasted or if you're feeling like shit, then you can just cave and, you know, check their Twitter or their Instagram and see what they're doing, which I think is severely unhealthy.
The big day has finally arrived.
Faye and Anson are holding their wedding ceremony at this super posh five-star hotel in the centre of the city.
In a few hours, the guests will fill the ballroom and watch the couple make their parents proud.
I just hope it's worth the £50,000 price tag.
I've arrived at the bride's room.
They've got their own camera crews filming the day.
Quite hectic in here.
How are you feeling now? Um Feels fine.
- Have you got a nervous tummy? - Mm-hm, nervous tummy.
- Aw.
It's kind of a show, actually.
It's kind of a show.
There will be more than 200 people over there.
To attend to my wedding ceremony.
'Marriage isn't just about love here.
' It's an opportunity for the whole family to display their wealth and success.
In China, reputation counts for everything.
It's pretty daunting, I think, to be, like, in a room .
.
full of people watching you on the most important day of your life, some of whom you've never seen before.
It's it's a big deal.
To get the show on the road, Anson must face a series of challenges.
It's a tradition that tests the groom's knowledge of his bride and how much money he's willing to spend on her.
Any minute now, Faye's going to come into this room and then we'll shut the door, at which point Anson is going to slide some cash underneath for the bridesmaids and then he has to answer a series of questions, pass some tests, before his bride is handed over.
If he gets a question wrong, he's just got to slide under some more cash.
Make it rain.
OK.
Anson has paid his way and answered enough of the questions.
He's through.
This hotel is really, really nice.
It must have cost an insane amount to hire the ballroom and to book Faye a suite to get ready in.
She's wearing Manolo Blahniks, Tiffany jewellery It's been an expensive day.
It's costing about 50 grand in total, which is a huge amount of money to spend and Faye and Anson aren't millionaires.
They're not incredibly wealthy, by any means.
They're middle class.
It just goes to show how much people here are willing to spend on one day.
It's so important.
I wonder where I'll get married.
Ceremony at Greggs, reception at Wetherspoons.
Only the best.
The guy that I like was supposed to call me today and he hasn't.
So, I'm just in the throes of quite a brutal rejection while I'm at this wedding.
OK.
BBC.
Table 16.
Right.
Quite hungry.
I'm always hungry.
I'm trying to fill the man-shaped void in my life with food.
The rings, the dress and the vows are all Western-style.
But the real heart of any Chinese wedding is the tea ceremony.
The newlyweds must serve their parents.
It's a sign of respect, duty and gratitude.
For everyone, the day that you get married is a hugely, hugely important thing and it's something that you'll remember forever.
But I feel like in China, maybe even more so than back home, it represents something more.
It's about your social status and your reputation, and the reputation of your family.
I think we can all agree that Anson's quite fit.
He's kind of, like, textbook, ideal husband material.
His parents have provided the house and a huge amount of money for the wedding.
He's tall, which is a massive, massive thing in China, and he's got a slim face, which is considered hugely attractive over here, even though the majority of, like Eastern, Asian people have quite round faces.
So, he is a catch.
Fair play, Faye.
Throughout my journey across China, the pressure to marry the right person, do your family proud and pay your respect to tradition has been obvious.
Hello.
Hi, I'm Billie, nice to meet you.
'But what about the young Chinese 'who aren't interested in fitting in at all?' I've tracked down Jing.
She's part of a feminist activist group that's earned huge global support online.
She claims that gay people are pressured into straight marriages and straight people into equally unhappy unions, leading to high levels of domestic violence.
The group stage and film protests and post the footage online.
Things are about choice.
I think we should have the choice that if we want to get married or not.
Like if you're a lesbian or gay, you can marry whoever you want to, but now we can't.
Like some parents have threatened to kill themselves if you come out or don't get married.
I've met people who, I feel, are genuinely scared and fearful about not marrying by a certain time and if I imagine, you know, that feeling combined with knowing that you're, you know, homosexual, I just can't imagine how difficult that must be here.
But China doesn't tolerate protesters, whatever the cause.
Jing, seen here demonstrating on Beijing's Metro, has been threatened and harassed by security services.
Five of her group were detained by police for over a month.
The treatment of the people that you work with, did that not put you off? Uh, yeah, for some.
And also, it.
Psychologically, they make you feel terrified by this.
I think this is really the challenge for me, too.
It is never easy.
The fact is it's never easy, so we have to keep on working.
This 24-hour noodle joint is my favourite spot in Beijing, a good place to reflect.
Jing and her group's struggles have put my own love life into perspective.
Being in the land of couples has made me forget how fun it is to be single.
I'm really kind of pissed off at myself for spending my trip here moaning about a guy.
I feel it's because it's one of the most freeing experiences to, you know, go to a city and discover a new part of the world with no real responsibility.
A toast to me.
Another solo meal.
I'd say I'm very independent, but even I've got caught up in this country's obsession with finding somebody.
It's become clearer and clearer to me what an enormous amount of pressure young people have on them to get married and to get married to a suitable person.
There's one type of Chinese wedding I can't leave the country without seeing for myself.
I've blagged an invite to a group wedding.
The location, 2,000 miles away on the palm tree-filled tropical island of Hainan.
Poor me(!) Mass weddings are an ancient tradition, but in modern China, it's a way for couples to get a great-looking wedding for rock-bottom prices using the group's buying power.
This is Mrs Liu, successful entrepreneur and wedding planner.
She sold these couples a bargain -- a beach wedding, four nights in this amazing hotel and trips around the island, all for £800 a couple.
I know that tomorrow's the most important day of all of your lives and I feel really honoured that I'm going to be there, and I'm really excited.
I might cry, I'm quite emotional at weddings.
Whose idea was it to do the group wedding out of you guys? - It was mine.
- Yours? Does everyone here get along? Do you all like each other? - Oh, yes.
- Yes.
- Our relationship is - Very good.
Although maybe we just met yesterday.
I feel like I'm on a school trip.
This is such an incredible view.
This is China's only tropical destination and people dream of getting married here.
And it's really not hard to see why.
My new friends are making the most of it, taking hundreds of DIY pre-wedding wedding photos, all under Mrs Liu's ever-watchful eye.
In the UK, when people take selfies I feel like they're kind of a bit sly about it, but over here, it's just absolutely shameless, they're quite into it.
Why do girls make this face in photos, like puff your face out? OK, so how do you do it, the face? But your friend was like puffing your face out, you were doing this.
What is it? You just did it? What is it? Do it again.
Got it.
Thank you.
Xie xie.
Our guide, she really goes for it.
The trip's grand finale is a terrifyingly wobbly, 168-metre long, 40-metre high rope bridge.
This is creaking, it's creaking, it's wobbling and they didn't ask us to si I just don't feel like this is insured or safe at all.
I really want to get off.
Oh, my God, I think I'm going to faint.
I don't know why I agreed to do this.
Claire, I want to get off.
Safely back at sea level, it's the morning of the big day and I've been summoned to meet big boss, Mrs Liu.
Fine.
Who are these guys? An usher, you want me to be? They look like bridesmaids.
'The wedding package even includes make-up artists 'and these usher-cum-bridesmaids -- 'pretty good for £800 a couple.
' I'm glad I shaved my armpits I definitely do that about, like, once every few months.
Two-and-a-half hours after the ceremony was supposed to start .
.
and the brides haven't even had their make-up finished.
So there are a few grooms lurking around in their boxer shorts, complaining about this lack of organisation.
God, it's quite tense.
People are frantically running around to try and phone Mrs Liu, who is nowhere to be found.
What if she's done a runner with everybody's cash? This guy thinks that some of the people working for Mrs Liu haven't received their cash, which is what I suspected, so the make-up artists aren't continuing until they're paid and apparently it's a similar problem with the venue.
How is your bride feeling? Your fiancee? My fiancee is a little upset.
- She's stressed? - Yes.
We don't know what we can do.
Maybe we will hold the wedding just here, maybe.
For myself, OK.
And your wife? Uhh Suddenly I spot Mrs Liu in the distance, crisis-managing.
Then people appear from nowhere to build a makeshift wedding venue.
The beach wedding is no more, but still, the couples are bursting with excitement as they line up to say their vows.
'I did get emotional in there.
'It's just such a privilege to be able' to share that moment with someone when they're making such a huge commitment and Yeah, it's catching! The emotion.
Whoo! We're finally descending onto the beach where the ceremony was supposed to be.
I'm glad that they've come here.
Given the circumstances, all the couples were remarkably well behaved.
If it was me, I would have been screaming at someone.
No punches were thrown.
It's been a nice day.
I couldn't leave China without seeing the Great Wall, one of the most iconic wonders of the world.
They even host group weddings here.
The structure is a powerful symbol of strength and loyalty in a nation built on conformity and obedience.
I now understand how impossibly difficult China can be if you don't follow the crowd.
I'm pro-marriage if it's what someone wants, not something they've been pushed into.
I very nearly got married when I was 20.
I'm not religious, I didn't want to get married for any kind of legal or financial security.
It was just that I wanted to have, like, a celebration of love.
That's so cheesy! There's nothing wrong with chasing love, but in China, the pressure's on to tie the knot.
Despite this, a brave few are challenging these expectations.
I've met so many strong, independent young women who I feel are slowly but surely changing the social landscape of China.
Thank you.
Maybe one day, the pressure will be less strong.
I think that it should be.
Next time .
.
I'll discover how some people in China are getting filthy rich .
.
while millions are still living incredibly hard lives.
Oh it's a very admirable thing that you've done.
I'll be heading to the beach for Chinese New Year .
.
to see how having fun in the sun could help power China into the future.
'A population of 1.
3 billion 'means one in five of the world's people live in China.
'My mission? To get inside the world of weddings 'in a country where marrying young is not a choice, but a duty.
' I feel really emotional.
'To take on the challenge of being a single girl in a nation 'obsessed with love.
' Alone at the back, as per usual.
A toast to me.
Coming? 'To find out why people my age go to such extremes 'to find that special someone.
' Quite brutal.
'And to track down the people prepared to go to jail 'for protesting against the pressures on young people 'to settle down.
' I start my journey in Hefei, southeast China.
This is a government-sponsored marriage market.
What's that? Here, people use these handwritten personal ads to find a serious partner with marriage potential.
Oh, my God.
'Single and ready to mingle myself, 'I decide to join the other thousands of people 'here on the quest for love.
' I think that this is guys reading all the girls' details and then taking numbers.
No.
- He is very handsome.
- I love you.
You're a bit forward.
You're even more forward than me.
Do you know what "I love you" means? So, why are you here? So, why should I go on a date with you? OK.
What else? A dying rose.
OK.
I am going to scout out the competition.
But then maybe we can exchange numbers later.
Fair play.
Confident.
You are confident.
My hobbies.
Should I lie about a hobby to make myself seem better? I think you can lie to make you perfect.
- Charity.
- That's great.
- And what is the last question? - What is your standard? - What are you looking for? - OK.
Right.
Funny.
Clever.
I don't care about salary.
In China, most girls put that first -- like, priority -- for marriage or for a boyfriend.
Well, I've probably got You know, I'm doubling my chances of getting a date if I don't care about that.
Oh, I see.
How do you tie it on? Yes! All right.
I'm going to stand here and see who goes for it.
Who are you looking for? OK.
Why do you think that your son hasn't found a girl for himself? Does he know that you're here? Ah-ha! OK.
Yeah.
Why do you want him to get married so much? What sort of girl do you want to find today? What do you think that the girls are looking for in the boys? And do you have a house? Do you think that it's impossible to find a wife if he didn't have this house? It is very different to the West.
There are no requirements.
Mei you requirements It's You're going to find a wife.
Hey! No-one has a house or a car where I'm from.
It is really hard to raise a son.
Seeing that woman break down into tears really hammered home how truly important it is for people here.
She is terrified that he's not going to find a wife.
It It seemed to, like, truly sadden her to her core.
But imagine being her child, stood next to her, how much of a disappointment you'd feel if you had led one of your parents to feel like that.
For me, marriage is all about choice.
Here, it feels like an obligation.
As I read through the cards, the desired criteria isn't exactly romantic.
Women want men with their own house, a car and, of course, a high salary.
Guys are after good-looking, obedient girls in their early 20s.
Maybe I didn't fill my card in right.
No texts.
Pathetic.
I've been here all day.
I'm going to have to go and get that guy, aren't I? The one who said he loved me.
Well, let's go get his number.
He's still there.
No! Is even HE gone? He was here Where has he gone? I wonder if my thing is still there.
Where is my one? Right, I'm looking for me.
There has been some foul play! Maybe it was the guy who said he loved me.
He wanted to tear me down so that no-one else could get a slice.
I was too big-headed.
And I thought that I was going to get someone better than the original guy.
The grass is always greener, isn't it? I feel like I seriously underestimated the realities of finding love in China.
Out here, people of my generation are under massive pressure to live up to the idea of the model bride or groom.
Fail, and you are alone.
I'm heading to China's capital, Beijing.
I want to find out what it takes to tick the boxes people need to be considered marriage material.
I'm on the prowl, as usual.
I'm going to commando roll out of the rickshaw if I see a hot guy.
Oh, God.
China is responsible for the biggest economic boom in history.
In many ways, it feels super-modern.
But marriage tradition still holds strong and many men in this city struggle to attain the material assets a husband should have.
House prices are soaring and the competition is fierce.
There are over 20 million more men than women in China, a hangover from the one-child policy and the country's preference for sons.
These single men are so desperate for a wife that they have come here, a seminar aptly titled Understanding Women.
'I've been asked to talk about what marriage means to me.
' I think that, over here, it tends to be more based on material things, like having a house or a car.
But that's not important to me.
I probably just come across as having incredibly low standards, by the answers that I gave.
"It doesn't matter if you don't have a car.
It doesn't matter.
"Don't worry about anyone else, it's fine.
I'll date you.
" I don't think that I maybe have a typical Chinese mentality when it comes to dating, but then, obviously, I'm not I'm not being pressured by my family to get married by 25.
Quite the opposite.
The sense of competition seems to leave them with this, like, crippling insecurity.
It's pretty sad.
With the session over, the instructors now work one-on-one with the clients.
Gordon has a good job in IT, but he struggles to even talk to the opposite sex.
This haircut is to boost his confidence.
Are you going to keep the soul patch? I don't think you should.
- How old are you? - I am 34.
- 34?! No.
OK, maybe you should keep it.
34 is I hope you don't mind me saying, but by Chinese standards, that's pretty late in the game to be unmarried, isn't it? Absolutely, yes.
Yeah.
Like what? No! Don't change your personality! Gordon is so eager to find himself a girl that he's agreed to take part in a hugely nerve-racking challenge.
To succeed, Gordon must approach girls on the street without freaking them out and walk away with at least one phone number.
He is wandering aimlessly.
He looks like a weirdo.
The teacher's giving him a motivational speech.
Oh, OK.
He is going for it.
He is going for it.
Oh Quite brutal.
He just tapped her and she was like You should wait until the night-time when everyone is pissed.
Listen to me -- predator! He's not letting one rejection get him down.
Oh, OK.
That's the second.
Come on, Gordon.
He's got a number.
How are you feeling? - Amazing? - Yes.
They are not trying to get these guys laid or turn them into, like, you know ladies' men at all.
It's about finding someone who you want to start a serious relationship with.
It is also about just improving their confidence.
And I think that the looks on their faces, even after they got one girl's number, just goes to show it is a huge self-esteem boost for them.
And I think that's really important.
For single women, the challenges are totally different.
On a shopping trip to a local mall, all I can seem to find is childish tat, which, naturally, I love.
You see these girls, you know, like my age and older going around with these foam faces.
Babyish.
Back at the dating event, men were looking for a wife no older than 25.
And here the pressure on girls to look young is also undeniable.
I've got this skin-whitening, like, bleaching mask as well.
It's got a baby on it.
Everyone's obsessed with being a white baby.
He only wants you when you're 17 I think that the aesthetic across a lot of Eastern Asia, like China, Japan and Korea, seems to be a kind of Lolita-ish vibe.
Sexy schoolgirl, almost.
Which is pretty sick when you think about it, but It-It's like a doll.
Big eyes They do loads to Oh, I popped a spot earlier, it's disgusting.
This is an extra big contact lens.
If you look, my right eye is a lot bigger than my left.
It's incredibly uncomfortable.
Oh! Just get some tissue for my tears.
Stayin' in my play pretend Where the fun ain't got no end I've done my best to look a bit more fashionable by Chinese standards.
I'm not sure how it's working out, but I've got the contacts, the false eyelashes, um .
.
some, like, rosy cheeks to make me look like a child.
Need someone to numb the pain 'I don't think it suits me.
' Need someone to numb the pain I've got a stunning panda selfie stick here, so I'm a fully-fledged Chinese girl.
OK, OK.
'This may be an extreme look for me' I look like an anime character! '.
.
but many girls here go a lot further.
' 'And it's no surprise.
Wherever I seem to go in China, 'there's always one thing that's advertised relentlessly.
' One, two, three, four Another advert for plastic surgery here.
Everywhere! This is Lidu Clinic.
I'm here to see Dr Xu.
'It's part of a national chain of palatial cosmetic hospitals.
' It's a £1.
5 billion industry, and business here is booming.
Posh! 'Staff say one of the reasons girls undergo surgery is to increase their marriage potential.
So this is the eye surgery page, which is massively popular in China -- across Asia, actually.
The aim is to have a like, a double eyelid.
Instead of the kind of heavier bit of skin that they've got, which I personally think is really attractive.
Some decidedly Western beauties up there.
There's Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Portman.
Another Marilyn Monroe photo.
Marilyn Monroe had a lot of cosmetic surgery.
One of the first pioneers of the rhinoplasty.
One of today's patients is 22-year-old Yang Yo, who's having a nose job and double eyelid surgery.
The style of the surgery, correct me if I'm wrong, but is it an attempt to look a bit more Western? Because to have a you know, kind of a pointier nose and, like, a bigger eyelid, it is kind of a Western look, no? Do you think that, like, boys find the Western look more attractive as well? You must already have loads of boys chasing you around, because you're really, really pretty.
No boyfriend? I understood that.
I only know a few words in Mandarin.
Beer, boyfriend Those are the two main ones.
What age do you hope to be married by? Do you feel pressure to be married by that time? Yang Yo, who's my age, seems to really believe that changing her face will help her secure a man and settle down.
Senior surgeon Xu Bing will be performing the operation, and double eyelids are the most popular item on his sales list.
I don't know.
Just to be clean in the theatre? I'm just copying you.
Do you think that she's got a better chance of getting married with double eyelids and a bigger nose? Come in, come in.
Unbelievably, these two procedures are happening under local anaesthetic.
No general anaesthetic, so she's actually going to be able to see the scalpel as it, you know, approaches .
.
her face! A general anaesthetic is dangerous.
I guess people avoid them wherever they can, but surely she'll be able to, like, punch his hand away if she gets scared.
I don't even think I'm going to be able to watch.
It's not just a pressure to find a boyfriend.
Even at work, it can help you get ahead, and Pretty brutal over here in that respect.
People in an office will respect you more if .
.
A, you're married, and B, if you look a certain way.
- Ni hao! - Hello.
Was that scary? In Beijing, if you're single like Yan Yo, you really feel it.
Couples have special status here.
They even have their own districts to enjoy, like Shichahai, an aquatic Lovers' Lane.
It's extremely romantic.
Lots of couples on pedalos.
There's a guy swimming there.
Brave.
I think that's the only other single person here, so I'm going to get in.
Couples march around smugly in matching outfits and the joys of marriage beam down at you from every street corner.
Give it up for me, please Put your hands in the air So what is it I'm missing out on? And what's getting married in China really all about? Would you please clap your hands Now get up on your feet This is our new apartment, and, um, we've just finished the decoration.
- OK.
- So we haven't moved in yet.
So it's the marital home? - You'll move in after you're married? - Yeah.
Are going to carry her in? Like, over the threshold? 'Faye and Anson skipped the marriage markets and met online.
'They're due to marry in five days.
' It's nice! It's big! I like the floor.
'Like the perfect Chinese gentleman, 'Anson's provided his fiancee with the marital home and car.
' Wow! Are these, like? Are these? Is this, like, special wedding bed sheets? - Yeah.
- Are they for, like, different days? Different days, and different colours - means that your life will be very colourful.
- Oh, wow.
What about these terrifying? These two mean that your bed that cannot be empty.
They're quite scary.
A little bit.
I think so.
But my parents insisted to have them my bed.
Silk bed sheets in, like, Western culture is seen as kind of like - I don't know.
Like pimp-ish.
Do you know what I mean? - Pimp-ish? - Like sexual.
- Oh, OK.
To have silk bed sheets.
Um, but then they look so cool! 'Pride of place in their new home are dozens of professional photos, 'documenting Faye and Anson's love.
' - Is this a wedding photo? - Yes.
- Like, pre-wedding wedding photo? - Yes.
- Aww! Cute! MUSIC: Underwater Love by Smoke City This must be underwater love The way I feel it slipping all over me Here, once you've found somebody to marry, you enter the world of China's extraordinary wedding industry.
O que que e esse, amor d'agua I think this is just a video.
This is really confusing, this glass.
I don't know how far away they are! I've got access to a studio that offers every scenario imaginable for these all-important pre-wedding wedding photos.
Follow me now To a place You only dreamt of Weddings in China have become absolutely massive.
Wedding photography in particular.
And it seems like there's nothing a bride won't do to make sure that she's got the most impressive album to show her family and friends.
I like that one.
This certainly isn't my idea of romance, but each to their own.
I've been instructed to "look prettier".
So here's me trying to do that.
Un, deux, trois 'My morning as a mermaid is done.
'Next up, I have a gig assisting on the studio's most popular set.
' This is so weird! 'I want to find out why people go to such lengths 'to create these fantasy images.
' Nose to nose.
Nose to nose.
'This is my contact, Mr Zhou.
'He specialises in creating replica foreign worlds -- 'Europe, Korea, Japan.
' Hello! Hi! - Yes.
- Yes? - Yes, yes.
- OK, this is my couple.
OK, hello.
Nice to meet you.
OK.
Apparently, there are 40 couples here today.
It's very, very hectic.
- More Coca-Cola.
- You've got lots of assistants.
- More Coca-Cola.
- You want a Coca-Cola? - Yeah! Yeah! Give it to me.
Thank you.
I'm a bad assistant! She doesn't want me to touch it now.
Sorry! Sorry! So many different couples here getting photographed, I'm sure that I'm going to be, like, accidentally in the back of one of their pictures.
- This bit - OK, OK.
Perfect, beautiful.
Where is he? - Do you want me to help you? - Oh, no, no, no.
- OK.
She's learnt, after last time, not to bother.
Is it like a Bible scene? I wouldn't be able to tell you what era this is supposed to be, even.
My history's terrible.
What's going on in this? Stuck down here.
I don't think it's any of these couples' relatives.
They don't look Chinese.
There's a barcode on it, actually.
These books aren't real.
They're just cardboard boxes.
And they're all the same.
It's all The Count Of Monte Cristo.
Ugh! No, that's not! Thank you.
OK Why are the pictures so important? So it's about reputation? Do you think that these photos, the moments you're creating Is it romantic? And, when you get married, are you going to do an album like this? What country would you want to go to? - Tahiti.
- Tahiti? - Tahiti.
- For your pictures? - Yeah.
£500 is what someone of a good or, like, decent income in China would spend on this album.
But the really, really wealthy actually fly to Europe to take the photos.
You know? Next to the real deal.
No cardboard-box books for them.
Have I been a good assistant? - Yes, very good.
- Very good?! - Fantastic! Am I still allowed to try on a dress? - OK.
- Can I? - OK.
OK, all right.
Strange love Even though you hurt me I feel blessed I feel really emotional.
I behaving as though I'm actually going to get married in this.
I just wanted to see what one would look like.
I'm just going to choose one.
Can I have a veil? I've gone like a psycho! Trouble's what you bring, strange love I want to get married! A dress, a couple of photos, and I'm hooked! But not everybody here gets sucked into the whole marriage thing quite so easily.
Over the past 20 years, China has fast become one of the world's richest countries, and has produced more self-made female billionaires than anywhere else on the planet.
Money and new confidence have led many high-fliers to challenge the pressure to marry young.
Here, if a woman is over 28 and still single, she's labelled a "leftover".
That feels pretty cold.
I've come to meet a group of these so-called leftovers, including Fu Shin and architect and lawyer, Virginia Tang, to talk singledom in China.
Asia, more than other parts of the world, there is a huge premium placed on beauty for a woman, so, therefore, obviously, the natural association is as a woman ages, she'll be less beautiful.
That's why, you know, they say, like, a woman's value depreciates as she grows older, regardless of her other achievements.
And I actually think that is both unhealthy and dangerous.
We meet so many girls and women and they are young, you know -- they're not late '30s, they are in their early '20s and they are calling themselves "leftover".
From my Personally, I want to define my own self and who I am and what I want to achieve in my life, but the voice from society is even louder than yourself, so sometimes your own voice just keeps down, down, down.
For sometimes, I'm really proud of myself because I came from a very poor hometown.
I studied very hard and worked very hard until now, I am architect.
I have a good salary and I can do whatever I want to go.
When I came home, I'm just a loser.
'Totally loser.
' I'm shocked that someone as cool as Fu Shin could be called a loser by her parents and a "leftover" by society.
Today, after work, she's collecting me to show me her favourite spot in Beijing.
- Hi.
- Hi, Billie.
- Hello, how are you? - Great, how about you? - Yeah, I'm OK.
- Here is some small gift for you.
- Caffeine gum.
- Yeah, I saw you were very tired.
- Military energy.
I am very tired.
I'm a mess.
The conflict with her parents means Fu Shin no longer goes home for the holidays.
I mean, Spring Festival, Chinese New Year, it's a massive deal over here.
I guess it's like the equivalent of Christmas.
And how did they take it? - My father got angry.
- Did he? He just said, "Why can't you be like other people? "You're just so different," you know.
"Different", not in a good way, different.
And that word made me very upset and feel sorry about myself.
I think that what you're doing is amazing and I think it's really, really, like, important for you to make your own decisions - and I think it's good to be different.
- Thank you.
'Fu Shin tells me that she grew up with her parents in a "hutong", 'a traditional area, like this.
' 'She earns enough to care for them now, 'but in their eyes, a leftover daughter is a dishonour.
' You seem quite, like, chipper and happy as a person.
Do you ever get really upset? Does it really get to you sometimes? It's not the proudest thing to say I'm single, I'm still single.
I'm over 30, I'm still single.
It's not something you should be proud of in China.
I'm struggling with this kind of thing and sometimes I am really tired about it, because a lot of people tell you, "You should do this, you should do that", but, no I always follow my heart, but for some Chinese people, they say it's crazy.
How is it? Strong? I like it.
Do you want to try? I'll have some Between The Sheets.
You can have some Pure Love.
- This one is stronger.
- That is very strong.
You're going to get wasted.
- Oh, look at the buildings! - Yeah.
In amongst the endless hustle and bustle of Beijing, you see the older generation, survivors of brutally difficult times when food was scarce and luxuries non-existent.
Their weddings cost almost nothing, consisting of a cake and a pot of tea.
Today, it couldn't be more different.
For couples like Faye and Anson, it's all about splashing the cash.
It's the final fitting for Faye's dress and I'm curious about how much all of this is costing.
Beautiful.
Oh, my God, you're tiny.
- It's quite tight.
- Your waist is so small.
- What do you think? - So beautiful.
You chose the dress.
What made you go for that one? How much is your wedding costing, then? - Three to four years.
- No! - Three to four years of your salary? - Yeah.
What's that in numbers? - 500,000.
- Wow! - More than 500,000.
- So that's about £50,000 on one day.
- That's quite a lot.
So, you met online and then when did it go from talking online, to meeting in person? - About five to six years later.
- No way! It's like catfish.
When did you first kiss? Did you kiss on the first date? I kissed him, actually.
- I've been speaking to a guy online for a while.
- Really? - Yeah.
And we met a few weeks ago and I kissed him on the first date, as well.
- So, are you guys together now? - No, we're not.
I freaked him out.
- He said that I was moving too fast.
- Really? - Yeah.
There are a lot of couples out tonight, but I can't tell if I'm just noticing them because I feel alone.
No, I'm just a bit of a brat and I want things to happen my way and I guess, sometimes, you meet people who don't want relationships to move as fast as you do.
I stalk him on a daily basis online, but I think that that's relatively normal when you're pursuing anyone.
It's a really self-destructive element of social media and, like, the internet age.
It's also relatively impossible to fade someone out of your life.
Like, if you break-up with someone, you used to be able to be, like, "OK, delete his number, not going to think about it", but now, if you're, like, wasted or if you're feeling like shit, then you can just cave and, you know, check their Twitter or their Instagram and see what they're doing, which I think is severely unhealthy.
The big day has finally arrived.
Faye and Anson are holding their wedding ceremony at this super posh five-star hotel in the centre of the city.
In a few hours, the guests will fill the ballroom and watch the couple make their parents proud.
I just hope it's worth the £50,000 price tag.
I've arrived at the bride's room.
They've got their own camera crews filming the day.
Quite hectic in here.
How are you feeling now? Um Feels fine.
- Have you got a nervous tummy? - Mm-hm, nervous tummy.
- Aw.
It's kind of a show, actually.
It's kind of a show.
There will be more than 200 people over there.
To attend to my wedding ceremony.
'Marriage isn't just about love here.
' It's an opportunity for the whole family to display their wealth and success.
In China, reputation counts for everything.
It's pretty daunting, I think, to be, like, in a room .
.
full of people watching you on the most important day of your life, some of whom you've never seen before.
It's it's a big deal.
To get the show on the road, Anson must face a series of challenges.
It's a tradition that tests the groom's knowledge of his bride and how much money he's willing to spend on her.
Any minute now, Faye's going to come into this room and then we'll shut the door, at which point Anson is going to slide some cash underneath for the bridesmaids and then he has to answer a series of questions, pass some tests, before his bride is handed over.
If he gets a question wrong, he's just got to slide under some more cash.
Make it rain.
OK.
Anson has paid his way and answered enough of the questions.
He's through.
This hotel is really, really nice.
It must have cost an insane amount to hire the ballroom and to book Faye a suite to get ready in.
She's wearing Manolo Blahniks, Tiffany jewellery It's been an expensive day.
It's costing about 50 grand in total, which is a huge amount of money to spend and Faye and Anson aren't millionaires.
They're not incredibly wealthy, by any means.
They're middle class.
It just goes to show how much people here are willing to spend on one day.
It's so important.
I wonder where I'll get married.
Ceremony at Greggs, reception at Wetherspoons.
Only the best.
The guy that I like was supposed to call me today and he hasn't.
So, I'm just in the throes of quite a brutal rejection while I'm at this wedding.
OK.
BBC.
Table 16.
Right.
Quite hungry.
I'm always hungry.
I'm trying to fill the man-shaped void in my life with food.
The rings, the dress and the vows are all Western-style.
But the real heart of any Chinese wedding is the tea ceremony.
The newlyweds must serve their parents.
It's a sign of respect, duty and gratitude.
For everyone, the day that you get married is a hugely, hugely important thing and it's something that you'll remember forever.
But I feel like in China, maybe even more so than back home, it represents something more.
It's about your social status and your reputation, and the reputation of your family.
I think we can all agree that Anson's quite fit.
He's kind of, like, textbook, ideal husband material.
His parents have provided the house and a huge amount of money for the wedding.
He's tall, which is a massive, massive thing in China, and he's got a slim face, which is considered hugely attractive over here, even though the majority of, like Eastern, Asian people have quite round faces.
So, he is a catch.
Fair play, Faye.
Throughout my journey across China, the pressure to marry the right person, do your family proud and pay your respect to tradition has been obvious.
Hello.
Hi, I'm Billie, nice to meet you.
'But what about the young Chinese 'who aren't interested in fitting in at all?' I've tracked down Jing.
She's part of a feminist activist group that's earned huge global support online.
She claims that gay people are pressured into straight marriages and straight people into equally unhappy unions, leading to high levels of domestic violence.
The group stage and film protests and post the footage online.
Things are about choice.
I think we should have the choice that if we want to get married or not.
Like if you're a lesbian or gay, you can marry whoever you want to, but now we can't.
Like some parents have threatened to kill themselves if you come out or don't get married.
I've met people who, I feel, are genuinely scared and fearful about not marrying by a certain time and if I imagine, you know, that feeling combined with knowing that you're, you know, homosexual, I just can't imagine how difficult that must be here.
But China doesn't tolerate protesters, whatever the cause.
Jing, seen here demonstrating on Beijing's Metro, has been threatened and harassed by security services.
Five of her group were detained by police for over a month.
The treatment of the people that you work with, did that not put you off? Uh, yeah, for some.
And also, it.
Psychologically, they make you feel terrified by this.
I think this is really the challenge for me, too.
It is never easy.
The fact is it's never easy, so we have to keep on working.
This 24-hour noodle joint is my favourite spot in Beijing, a good place to reflect.
Jing and her group's struggles have put my own love life into perspective.
Being in the land of couples has made me forget how fun it is to be single.
I'm really kind of pissed off at myself for spending my trip here moaning about a guy.
I feel it's because it's one of the most freeing experiences to, you know, go to a city and discover a new part of the world with no real responsibility.
A toast to me.
Another solo meal.
I'd say I'm very independent, but even I've got caught up in this country's obsession with finding somebody.
It's become clearer and clearer to me what an enormous amount of pressure young people have on them to get married and to get married to a suitable person.
There's one type of Chinese wedding I can't leave the country without seeing for myself.
I've blagged an invite to a group wedding.
The location, 2,000 miles away on the palm tree-filled tropical island of Hainan.
Poor me(!) Mass weddings are an ancient tradition, but in modern China, it's a way for couples to get a great-looking wedding for rock-bottom prices using the group's buying power.
This is Mrs Liu, successful entrepreneur and wedding planner.
She sold these couples a bargain -- a beach wedding, four nights in this amazing hotel and trips around the island, all for £800 a couple.
I know that tomorrow's the most important day of all of your lives and I feel really honoured that I'm going to be there, and I'm really excited.
I might cry, I'm quite emotional at weddings.
Whose idea was it to do the group wedding out of you guys? - It was mine.
- Yours? Does everyone here get along? Do you all like each other? - Oh, yes.
- Yes.
- Our relationship is - Very good.
Although maybe we just met yesterday.
I feel like I'm on a school trip.
This is such an incredible view.
This is China's only tropical destination and people dream of getting married here.
And it's really not hard to see why.
My new friends are making the most of it, taking hundreds of DIY pre-wedding wedding photos, all under Mrs Liu's ever-watchful eye.
In the UK, when people take selfies I feel like they're kind of a bit sly about it, but over here, it's just absolutely shameless, they're quite into it.
Why do girls make this face in photos, like puff your face out? OK, so how do you do it, the face? But your friend was like puffing your face out, you were doing this.
What is it? You just did it? What is it? Do it again.
Got it.
Thank you.
Xie xie.
Our guide, she really goes for it.
The trip's grand finale is a terrifyingly wobbly, 168-metre long, 40-metre high rope bridge.
This is creaking, it's creaking, it's wobbling and they didn't ask us to si I just don't feel like this is insured or safe at all.
I really want to get off.
Oh, my God, I think I'm going to faint.
I don't know why I agreed to do this.
Claire, I want to get off.
Safely back at sea level, it's the morning of the big day and I've been summoned to meet big boss, Mrs Liu.
Fine.
Who are these guys? An usher, you want me to be? They look like bridesmaids.
'The wedding package even includes make-up artists 'and these usher-cum-bridesmaids -- 'pretty good for £800 a couple.
' I'm glad I shaved my armpits I definitely do that about, like, once every few months.
Two-and-a-half hours after the ceremony was supposed to start .
.
and the brides haven't even had their make-up finished.
So there are a few grooms lurking around in their boxer shorts, complaining about this lack of organisation.
God, it's quite tense.
People are frantically running around to try and phone Mrs Liu, who is nowhere to be found.
What if she's done a runner with everybody's cash? This guy thinks that some of the people working for Mrs Liu haven't received their cash, which is what I suspected, so the make-up artists aren't continuing until they're paid and apparently it's a similar problem with the venue.
How is your bride feeling? Your fiancee? My fiancee is a little upset.
- She's stressed? - Yes.
We don't know what we can do.
Maybe we will hold the wedding just here, maybe.
For myself, OK.
And your wife? Uhh Suddenly I spot Mrs Liu in the distance, crisis-managing.
Then people appear from nowhere to build a makeshift wedding venue.
The beach wedding is no more, but still, the couples are bursting with excitement as they line up to say their vows.
'I did get emotional in there.
'It's just such a privilege to be able' to share that moment with someone when they're making such a huge commitment and Yeah, it's catching! The emotion.
Whoo! We're finally descending onto the beach where the ceremony was supposed to be.
I'm glad that they've come here.
Given the circumstances, all the couples were remarkably well behaved.
If it was me, I would have been screaming at someone.
No punches were thrown.
It's been a nice day.
I couldn't leave China without seeing the Great Wall, one of the most iconic wonders of the world.
They even host group weddings here.
The structure is a powerful symbol of strength and loyalty in a nation built on conformity and obedience.
I now understand how impossibly difficult China can be if you don't follow the crowd.
I'm pro-marriage if it's what someone wants, not something they've been pushed into.
I very nearly got married when I was 20.
I'm not religious, I didn't want to get married for any kind of legal or financial security.
It was just that I wanted to have, like, a celebration of love.
That's so cheesy! There's nothing wrong with chasing love, but in China, the pressure's on to tie the knot.
Despite this, a brave few are challenging these expectations.
I've met so many strong, independent young women who I feel are slowly but surely changing the social landscape of China.
Thank you.
Maybe one day, the pressure will be less strong.
I think that it should be.
Next time .
.
I'll discover how some people in China are getting filthy rich .
.
while millions are still living incredibly hard lives.
Oh it's a very admirable thing that you've done.
I'll be heading to the beach for Chinese New Year .
.
to see how having fun in the sun could help power China into the future.