A Little Romance in the Nineties

The story of Tang Yuanqiu and Shen Zhiyu, from a fake marriage to spending their lives together.

In 1991, a textile factory began allocating apartments in its welfare housing blocks, requiring applicants to be married couples who both worked at the factory. Shen Zhiyu, a female worker, approached her single colleague Tang Yuanqiu and proposed a fake marriage to qualify for an apartment, with the understanding that they would divorce once they got one.

After registering their marriage and receiving an apartment, Shen Zhiyu put off the divorce. As they lived together, feelings gradually grew between them. Then they learned that the factory would reclaim apartments if couples divorced within three years of receiving them, so they decided to make a real go of their marriage.

The two lived frugally to put Shen Zhiyu's younger brother through school. When the factory's fortunes declined, they started their own business and had a daughter, Tang Nianyu.

Later, their old housing block was demolished and they moved into a new home. They each ran their own shop, Shen Zhiyu's brother graduated and started a family, and their daughter went to university and married.

At the Lunar New Year family reunion in 2023, their daughter learned from her uncle that her parents had once married for show. Looking back on a marriage that began as a deal but ended in true love, Tang Yuanqiu felt nothing but gratitude and contentment.