Focus

No happy ending as parents torpedo Cinderella dream

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-31 08:09

Editor's note: Xue Mei (not her real name), 28, comes from a village in Anhui province and dated the son of a wealthy businessman for four months.

Ever since I was a little girl, my favorite fairytale has been Cinderella. The story comforted me and gave me hope that even though I was born into a poor rural family, I would still meet my prince and fall in love.

I believed the fairytale was coming true when I met my ex-boyfriend.

He is a handsome guy and he smiled all the time. As his father's company had regular dealings with the business I worked for, I had lots of chances to see him and get to know him better.

Falling in love had nothing to do with his money - and I never allowed myself to dream that he would love me too.

After completing our second work project together, my "Prince Charming" took me on a date and asked me if I would like to be his girlfriend. He told me how much he liked my kind-hearted personality.

I didn't hesitate with my reply; but then again, I didn't know what was to come.

After dating for two months, he took me to dinner to meet his parents. That's when I realized we came from different worlds. When I told them my family are farmers and that I was the only college graduate from my village, they could not hide their disappointment. I could see it on their faces.

From then on, my boyfriend's parents put him under a lot of pressure to break up with me. I felt humiliated at how they looked down on my family and I.

Slowly, day-by-day, my Cinderella story was collapsing. A huge gap began to open up between us. He is still very much influenced by his parents, while I'm more independently minded.

Ultimately, I just wasn't qualified to be the daughter-in-law in this rich, powerful family because I was from the countryside and my parents were farmers. Being with me was breaking a golden rule.

Finally, we split up.

What I learnt from the relationship was that a well-matched background is essential to a happy relationship - and that Cinderella is just a fairytale.

Xue Mei was talking to Yu Ran.