I’m 25, from Shanghai, and I’m looking for a boyfriend under 35 to marry next year.”

Mic in hand, a pretty girl under the spotlight on the stage of a bar in Shanghai announces her desire to find a life partner who wants to marry. Some 50 young men and women sit around the bar, carefully listening to the girl. She continues, “I have a girlfriend and we’ve been together for six years.”

The scene resembles the weekend marriage market at People’s Square, where parents gather to match their grown up children, but this marriage market is for gays and lesbians looking for partners of the opposite sex. China’s post ‘80s generation has reached marrying age and many are looking for a spouse, no matter whether they are straight or gay.

“I have to marry someone soon because people at work always ask about this,” says 34-year-old Yao Xinghun, who takes the stage next. “Soon, I’m going to work for a state-run company so there will be even more pressure.”

Unlike the generations of Chinese gay men who hid their sexuality and married straight women, these young gay men and women have discovered a new solution to the social pressure to marry. Fake marriage, or xingshi hunyin, has become the solution for many gay people to keep their parents and society happy.

Thirty-year-old Xiao Huang gets on stage and says she’s not only looking for a husband but also to have kids. “It’s not just that my parents are pressuring me to have kids, I also think having a family means happiness.”

Others have different demands. “After we get married, I also need the guy to go back to my parents for dinner every couple of weeks,” says Cheng Zi from Shanghai.

The men also have their conditions. “I have a long-term boyfriend and I want to live together with him and the girl I marry,” says a guy in his late 20s. “Her girlfriend can live with us too, if she has one.”

Even though the marriages aren’t exactly real, most people haven’t forgotten about what they value most. “I’m looking for a guy who has a Shanghai hukou (permanent residency) and owns an apartment in Shanghai,” says Shanghainese girl Zui Yufa. “And the guy has to have money.”

S., owner of the Box, who helped organize the match-making event, also has a boyfriend and a “girlfriend”. However, he says he’s not sure if he will ever get married to the girl. “It takes a long time to get to know someone, and I’m still not sure if it’s the right thing to do,” says S. with a smile. “It’s not real, after all.”

By Xing Zhao