GANDALF’S SHANGHAI SURPRISE S

HOPPERS at the Shanghai Marriage Market this week might have paused at a strangely familiar face — then perhaps moved on too quickly, put off by his white hair, his Western face or that impish smile.

How many will have realised that it was, in fact, one of the world’s finest actors, the legendary Ian McKellan — yes, Gandalf from Lord of the Rings himself — unexpectedly advertising his prospects?

The market has become an oddball tourist attraction in China’s largest city, though for locals it is serious business. Every weekend, the anxious elders of “singles of a certain age” flock to the famous People’s Park in the heart of Shanghai to hunt for a mate for their shamefully on-the-shelf offspring.

The most enterprising set up umbrellas as stalls and pin hand-written pamphlets onto these, listing the details of their person: birth date, height, weight, hobbies, job and income. Some include photos.

A reporter from Chinahighlights.com describes the market as full of “animated parents and grandparents involved in heated discussions and brokering marriage deals”.

McKellan, in the country to promote the British Council’s “Shakespeare Lives” programme, which celebrates The Bard’s work in the 400th year since his death, playfully threw his hat into the ring when he visited at the weekend before the opening of the Shanghai Film Festival.

Whether he got involved in any heated discussions was unclear but unlikely. He was there just to “experience the magic of life”, the British Council China said.