A Chinese mother has bought the entire front page of a newspaper to get her son to come home for Spring Festival. In the ad it says: “Maybe the only way to get my message to you is here. Mom and Dad will not pressure you to get married ever again.”

Pressure to marry is omnipresent in China. Parents are adept at the skills of coercion and persuasion. Although arranged marriage is an outdated tradition, parents often remain one of the most important and decisive figures in the forming of a serious partnership.

There are no lengths some parents are willing to go to achieve their aim, no matter how tenuous and trudging the road is. Facing such immense pressure and various forms of coercion, some Chinese children are using whatever methods they can think of to escape this insurmountable marital pressure, including hiding in another country and never going home.

The ad placed in the Chinese Melbourne Daily quickly went viral on the internet, as a mother repented and begged her son to come home. Want China Times quote the advertisement:

“‘(I) have called you several times and you did not take my calls. Maybe the only way to get my message to you is here. Mom and Dad will not pressure you to get married ever again. Please come back home for New Year! Love, Mom'”

Netizens, perhaps all too aware of parental pressure, largely sympathize with the son. Some suggest that he may have gone too far by not answering calls or being in contact. And, as ever, lovers of gay-fiction in China were quick to put their own spin on events. From weibo:

猪兔子樣: This is what it really meant: the son is homosexual, lives with his boyfriend in Australia. After coming out of the closet, his parents wouldn’t accept it, so they used marital pressure to break them apart. The son has no other way but not to go home. Because as soon as he goes home, he will lost his chastity, and may never see his boyfriend again.

实话实说真的很难: Arranged marriage, it’s still here.

青色76: What’s there to pity his parents for? If their son dares not return home for the Spring festival, they must have used colossal-level pressure!