Chinese woman’s song urging son to find Lunar New Year love becomes viral hit
- Video watched 6 million times after blogger from Sichuan puts his mother’s message online
Tao, a blogger from Chengdu in Sichuan province, put his mother’s message on a video-sharing website. On Sunday, it found its way onto Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service, before official media, including People’s Daily, picked it up.
The song quickly gained fans for its earnest lyrics, while an accompanying video of Tao’s parents dancing added to its appeal. The People’s Daily Weibo repost attracted thousands of likes and shares, and by Monday the video had been watched more than 6 million times.
“The fattest flower on the plain, you’re still single at over 30, don’t be discouraged,” Tao’s mother sings. “Although you haven’t grown to be good-looking, you’re not too bad. Dry your tears and find a date over Lunar New Year!”
The Red Star News website quoted Tao as saying that he had a 30-year-old sister who was also single.
“My parents are especially determined to get both of us married,” he said. “They have outgoing personalities – especially my mum who likes to film short videos of herself dancing.”
On Weibo, many users said the video reflected the attitudes of elderly and middle-aged relatives who, during family reunions at Lunar New Year, pried into the personal lives of young people or put pressure on them to find partners.
99 ethnic Chinese couples tie knot in Malaysian mass wedding
In recent years, more millennials who chose to stay single until into their 30s have voiced complaints on social media about the behaviour of older relatives.
“Don’t get married and don’t have kids, then you’ll have peace,” wrote one Weibo user whose message on the viral song thread was liked more than 3,000 times.
“When I return home over Lunar New Year, the one thing that always leads to family arguments with my mum and dad is when they pressure me to get married,” said another.
But there was praise for Tao’s parents from other users, who liked the humorous way the middle-aged couple approached the issue.
