Not “How are you, honey?” but rather, “You know what?!”, was the first sentence out of my mother’s mouth last week when we met for our weekly MSN Messenger chat.
Delen
“Yang Zhenning is going to marry a girl who is only 28!” my mother exclaimed. Really…? I must admit, I’d been expecting to hear some seriously big news, but still, I was surprised to hear this. Most of you won’t know who Yang Zhenning is, but the first thing you need to know is that Zhenning is 82 years old; second, that he’s a well-known Chinese scholar, a Nobel laureate in physics; and third, he’s rich – rolling in all that Nobel cash!
Now, I realize it’s getting pretty common nowadays for an old rich man and a pretty, young woman to get married – Rupert Murdoch…or Playboy bunny Anna Nicole Smith marrying a wheelchair-bound Texas billionaire – but in Zhenning’s case, the age difference is pretty extreme – 54 years, two generations! China’s economy is now booming, but divorce rates are rising and middle-aged women are starting to worry about their marriages. It seems that a man with money can always bed and wed 20-something girls, no matter how old he is! But for us girls, it’s different. When we’re 20-years-old, we’re like a rugby ball being chased by 20 boys; at 30, we’re a soccer ball chased by 10 guys; but at 40, we’re a ping-pong ball sent floating from one man to the other, and by the time we’re 50, forget about it!, we’re the golf ball that the guy wants to drive as far away from him as possible!
Sad for us girls! So all we can do is grasp every opportunity while we’re still young. Lunching with my girlfriends, I asked, “If it were you, would you be willing to marry Yang Zhenning?” Lin, a smart and pretty young woman of 23 replied, “It depends, if I really loved him, I would. But a 54 year age difference is too much for full love, isn’t it? I mean think of the difficulties. I like rock and roll, for instance, which I suppose he doesn’t listen to, I like discos, but he’ll never go with me, and I love taking long hikes in the mountains, which would probably kill an 82-year old man! We’d be leading such totally different lives that I’d have to give up a lot to be his wife. Is it worth it? And how about the sexy life? Can you imagine making love to an old man?” We laughed together at the thought. I was then reminded of a newspaper interview with the father of Yang Zhenning’s new wife, who said Professor Yang had devoted himself to scientific research, made great contributions to our country, and now he’s old and in need of someone to look after him. His daughter’s marrying him could be a kind of sacrifice for our country. Sacrifice? I can understand…making love to an 82-year-old man every night is worthy of martyrdom! And what if Yang lives to 100! Wiping up his drool, changing his diapers…And then I got to thinking about this young woman’s life after Yang’s death. Sure, she’ll be rich, but could she ever find her true love? Would another man marry her if he knew about her past? My mother always says, “No matter how independent you are, don’t forget marriage and family are of great importance for a girl.” All I can do then is wish every girl true love and real happiness in this life.
‘Asian Girl’ Yi Ya’s next column will appear in Delta 11.
Not “How are you, honey?” but rather, “You know what?!”, was the first sentence out of my mother’s mouth last week when we met for our weekly MSN Messenger chat. “Yang Zhenning is going to marry a girl who is only 28!” my mother exclaimed. Really…? I must admit, I’d been expecting to hear some seriously big news, but still, I was surprised to hear this. Most of you won’t know who Yang Zhenning is, but the first thing you need to know is that Zhenning is 82 years old; second, that he’s a well-known Chinese scholar, a Nobel laureate in physics; and third, he’s rich – rolling in all that Nobel cash!
Now, I realize it’s getting pretty common nowadays for an old rich man and a pretty, young woman to get married – Rupert Murdoch…or Playboy bunny Anna Nicole Smith marrying a wheelchair-bound Texas billionaire – but in Zhenning’s case, the age difference is pretty extreme – 54 years, two generations! China’s economy is now booming, but divorce rates are rising and middle-aged women are starting to worry about their marriages. It seems that a man with money can always bed and wed 20-something girls, no matter how old he is! But for us girls, it’s different. When we’re 20-years-old, we’re like a rugby ball being chased by 20 boys; at 30, we’re a soccer ball chased by 10 guys; but at 40, we’re a ping-pong ball sent floating from one man to the other, and by the time we’re 50, forget about it!, we’re the golf ball that the guy wants to drive as far away from him as possible!
Sad for us girls! So all we can do is grasp every opportunity while we’re still young. Lunching with my girlfriends, I asked, “If it were you, would you be willing to marry Yang Zhenning?” Lin, a smart and pretty young woman of 23 replied, “It depends, if I really loved him, I would. But a 54 year age difference is too much for full love, isn’t it? I mean think of the difficulties. I like rock and roll, for instance, which I suppose he doesn’t listen to, I like discos, but he’ll never go with me, and I love taking long hikes in the mountains, which would probably kill an 82-year old man! We’d be leading such totally different lives that I’d have to give up a lot to be his wife. Is it worth it? And how about the sexy life? Can you imagine making love to an old man?” We laughed together at the thought. I was then reminded of a newspaper interview with the father of Yang Zhenning’s new wife, who said Professor Yang had devoted himself to scientific research, made great contributions to our country, and now he’s old and in need of someone to look after him. His daughter’s marrying him could be a kind of sacrifice for our country. Sacrifice? I can understand…making love to an 82-year-old man every night is worthy of martyrdom! And what if Yang lives to 100! Wiping up his drool, changing his diapers…And then I got to thinking about this young woman’s life after Yang’s death. Sure, she’ll be rich, but could she ever find her true love? Would another man marry her if he knew about her past? My mother always says, “No matter how independent you are, don’t forget marriage and family are of great importance for a girl.” All I can do then is wish every girl true love and real happiness in this life.
‘Asian Girl’ Yi Ya’s next column will appear in Delta 11.
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