Overweight woman has no suitors, wealthy father offers a dowry of 10,000 RMB per jin (0.5 kg)
Source: Xiandai Kuaibao (this story has been attributed to Straits Times, but no link remains to that clip)
May 12, 2009
Have you heard about one pound of meat for 10,000 yuan? On May 10th a user called “Tianya” registered with the QQ number 188595000 posted this question. How expensive! Full of curiosity the moderator asked, what kind of meat could be worth that much? Immediately “Tianya” posted a crying emoticon, saying: this meat is not some kind of exotic delicacy, it’s the flesh of my own fat body!
“Tianya” in real life is surnamed Shi and she lives in Shishi, Fujian. She is 23 years old and works in a government department. Miss Shi’s family is wealthy. Her father and older brothers are all businessmen. She is 1.6 meters tall and weighs approximately 150 jin (75 kg). Even though many people say she is fat, she has never had low self esteem. With her bright and cheerful disposition, she loves to tell jokes, and within her work unit people consider her a ray of sunshine. Wherever she goes, excitement and fun follows.
Miss Shi has two elder brothers and she is the youngest in the family. The whole family dotes on her, especially her mother, who everyday makes delicious food for her to eat. Over time, she’s steadily gained weight.
Seeing other girls her age out with their boyfriends, Miss Shi feels extremely lonely and all day complains that she needs to lose weight. Her family, however, disagrees and won’t let her, saying that for a girl to get fat is truly a blessing.
Last month, Miss Shi invited a few female coworkers over to her house to eat. One of her coworkers said that Miss Shi had very attractive facial features, and that if she were thinner, she would surely be very beautiful.
Miss Shi decided right then to lose weight, but she had not realized that her father would respond by smacking the table and saying “Forget losing weight! My daughter’s every jin is worth 10,000 yuan. Let’s see what man can properly feed my girl and when it’s time to get married, the more meat on her bones the bigger her dowry will be.”
The next day, Miss Shi’s father’s words had spread through her office. Miss Shi weighed 150 jin so her dowry would be worth 1.5 million yuan. Even her female coworkers were clamoring to marry her. Quickly, many male coworkers came to ask Miss Shi out on a date, but she wouldn’t think of it, and turned each one down. Before no one had ever found her a boyfriend, and nowadays all of her coworkers were so enthusiastic, everyday asking her what the criteria were for selecting a son-in-law for her parents.
“I believe it’s all because of my weight,” said Miss Shi. Before she was never so distrustful, but this one sentence from her father had changed everything.
Thanks for translating this quirky story, Mollie. It’s cool that her parents are completely fine with her weight, but however well-intentioned her father’s actions may be, they clearly weren’t well-thought out.
A dowry! I knew there were dowries in China! Yet why do the Shanghainese girls insist otherwise and the opposite?!? LoL! Dagnabbit.
Haha, I think actually reverse dowries are de rigueur in Shanghai, what with a guy needing a house and a car if he wants to get married.
I’m confused about why this girl originally decided to post about her dowry on the internet, though. She sounds embarrassed, but could she be looking to cast a wider net beyond her danwei? I wonder.
“…but could she be looking to cast a wider net beyond her danwei?” So you’re saying that there’s a possibility that she’s actually looking forward to the outcome?
Huwhat??
I’m going to cry if this is my dad. It’s sounds like a challenge.
The happiest ending would be if she met someone who didn’t know the dowry story, they fell in love, and then her dad gave them that huge check. Romantic AND practical!
1.60 meters for 75 kilos? She is not fat, at least not by North American standards!
Seriously, under 250 pounds here, you are not even supposed to stop eating junk food :lol:
Okay, I’m joking here, but I feel sorry for the girl. I know Asian standard of “thin” are often much higher than in the West, but if she is healthy, cute, funny etc, what’s the problem with her weight?
I think for her benefit the girl shouldn’t post her father’s words about dowry on the web. It becomes more difficult for her to single out the right man who is really in love with her but not with the money.
Too bad, because her proportions are just about right for a Tang dynasty beauty.
lol, 1.6 meters 75 kg, it not very fat
I’m not trying to critize the girl here but, just want to share my opinion on this. According to BMI (Body mass index) calculation :
BMI= 75 kgs(weight) / 1.6*1.6 (height in m2) = 29.30
Normal weight should be 18.5-25, so she’s still overweight a little and need to lose a bit of her weight.
For her father; I think he’s a good father to motivate his daughter to be confident with her weight. But, if he’s willing to motivate his daughter to do some exercise to lose some weight and and make her body a little healthier wouldn’t it be better for her?
I tried to send a first mail which has not been forwarded.
Please be as kind as to let know this family that I am applying as a potential groom, and that they should contact me on my e-Mail.
Thank you for the service.
Have a nice day.
BOB ( for short)
If BOB marries this girl, does Mollie get a commission percentage? :P
Yes, Meg, as per the fine print in the users agreement, I will collect a 7% finders fee on any dowries paid out as a result of any and all blog posts submitted during the course of my contributor duties on CNR. Thank you giving me this opportunity to clarify.
And best wishes to BOB in his pursuit of Miss Shi! I’ll be waiting for that check ;-)
Hello Mollie, here is the BOB again, the “groom”…
It can be a Chinese, would be very reluctant at first, to get a proposal from a Westerner, not speaking the language, and not really having a clue about Chinese Culture.
Indeed what I know about China, is that it’s currently expanding westwards. And we are speaking BUSINESS thanks to wedding…
So,good news are my widow would cash immediately my “reversion pension”, when I pass away, assume we have a child. The child does need to be my blood. It simply got legitimated when the French wedding certificate is issued.
If no child, the age to cash in is not 55 as stated on my webpage, but 40, only.
The Chinese you reported about, is rich enough to pay off the amount I would request, but does not have an International view on his business. To put it short, he’s not rich enough, maybe…
Indeed with ONLY 3 /400 000 EUR to invest, I show him stunning opportunities based on Paris Real Estate with a steady yield of 20% per year, plus capital growth on top to be compounded at 3% per year. This is practically NET of everything. And could be paid anywhere in the world, as from his choice. ( no income tax, but a flat rate of 400 USD$ per year, to be paid in…Luxemburg ! )
A huge reserve of crude, quality “arabian light” has been discovered under Paris. In fact it expands over 300 km West/East, and 50 km North/South. At todays’ barrel price it’s worth 6 trillion USD $. The EXCLUSIVE concession has been given to….a US Company, a penny stock capitalized 100 million USD $, today 186 million USD $ already. There must be a trick ?
The 5th fortune of France, before l’Oreal is BOURBON Holding. Not only this company never pulled out one EUR from their purse, ALL PAID by the French Government, thanks to special requirements I do know indeep, they make HUGE profits, even they pay the 50% French tax on companies. What’s the matter to pay 500 million USD $ tax, when you cash in 500 millions, investing nothing from your own capital ?
I do insist: France, and besides the EU are incredible when it comes to do business.
Some countries may sell a Europen Nationalty, like Latvia. Everyone knows this in Europe. So you come with a Latvian nationality = worths nothing. There NO EUROPEAN NATIONALITY so to speak but a national from any of the member countries can do business anywhere in the EU. Certainly not with a Latvian nationality…
I was asking for 100 000 EUR. I put it up to 150 000 EUR. You get, not 7%, but 10% commission. I give the business briefings for free, showing examples in REAL LIFE.
France is a haven for the very poor, and for the very rich. The middle class is squeezed like a lemon…
Good reading, and please get me married, I am feeling so lonely, hahaha…
Regards from BOB
LoL! Comment of the DAY! *hands award*