A traditional Chinese saying goes, a man forms a family before building his own career. But a growing number of youngsters in China are saying that they want to skip the first step, once and for all.

The People's Park of Shanghai is known as one of China's biggest markets, not for fruit or vegetables but for marriage. It's where many senior Shanghai citizens bring page after page of personal information every weekend in hopes of finding a partner, not for themselves, but their sons and daughters, who are among China's 200 million unmarried citizens. While many parents are exerting all efforts to find them a mate, a growing number are saying no.

Twenty-two-year-old Wang Hongcheng is a busy entrepreneur. 

"I was born and raised in the north of China where...people getting married early is just everywhere,” said Wang. However, finding a wife isn't part of his plan, at least for the next 10 years. “I'm trying to start my own career, which means there isn't really any time to think about how lonely I am, or how pathetic I look like. Instead, I just want to get my work done, I want to get everything good, I wanna be successful, then I maybe have time to think about other stuff," said Wang.

Wang convinced his parents of his intentions, but that thinking didn't sit well with his extended family, who occasionally pressure him to try and find a bride. 

"I don't think they really care about my personal life, we don't really have anything to talk about so...hey what should we talk about? Do you have a girlfriend?" said Wang.

The young businessman says that as times change in China, families' attitudes should change too. For him, it's normal to be married to one's career.

"I don't think my parents understand it. Twenty or thirty years ago, when my parents were young, they don't really have a thing called...maybe you can start something by yourself. Because at that time, you either work for a factory, or you work for someone,” said Wang.

The number of young Chinese people refusing to marry is growing. “According to a survey, there are three to eight percent of adults in China who hold negative views towards marriage," said Xia Jiangqi, a sociologist at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

Zhu Haoliang works in advertising. His attitude towards marriage is more philosophical: Tying the knot just isn't for everyone. 

“Why should I get married if I haven’t seen the right one? Will I never betray my fidelity and not break my lover’s heart? Will marriage lower the quality of my life? How much will I sacrifice for the family?” asked Zhu. He says his contemporaries aren't asking these important questions before they cave in to social norms and parental expectations. “We are more rational and responsible than ever. Marriage is a lifetime thing, human emotion and love is unpredictable. So many factors will bring you a bad marriage, and it will easily destroy the life of two, and leaves great disappointment."

Seismic change is clearly coming to the institution of marriage in China, as this generation of ambitious doers and nonconformist thinkers take center stage.