People's Park

This guide to People's Park in Shanghai starts with a scene that looks nothing like a park outing: every weekend, hundreds of parents arrive without their children and pin biographies to string and umbrellas, trading age, salary and apartment ownership like listings on an exchange. It traces how this ground went from a British colonial racecourse to a split civic park, and how the matchmaking corner has grown since 2004 into an unlikely ritual of grief and hope. You'll also hear about the English Corner nearby, where strangers have gathered to practice a second language since 1978.