Engineers have not job security here at all. A badminton prof with Chen Hong's qualifiication has no problem getting a lifetime job coaching badminton in China or even outside of China. And Chen Hong is a nation hero also helping winning TC. If I'm Gaoling's parent, I will pick Chen Hong instead of an average engineer.
Famous baminton couple: Married ones: Alan & Susi (They already ad 1 or 2 children now) Sun Jun and Ge Fei Kim Dong Moon and Ra Kyung Min Couple who dates then split: Peter Gade & Camilla Martin Sigit Budiarto & Ye Zhao Ying (although this never been confirmed by both atheles but the press thought they been couple for a while) Chen Hong & Gao Ling
Must be so hard for Chen Hong and Gao Ling. I can also see from her parent's side. Every parent want the best for their child. An athelete in China gets paid extremely little even if you are Chen Hong or Lin Dan. The most money they make is probably any endorsements they get, but they won't get that much because badminton isn't really THAT popular in china. (At least not compared to soccer and basketball, not even close.) The saddest thing is that, if Chen Hong was a top tennis player in anywhere but China, he could literally go pick up any girl he wanted. A title like the AE2005 could have racked up a million US dollars in tennis and he would never have to work another day in his life as long as he stayed in China. It's just unfortunate he's born in a country where even a succesful athelete gets paid close to nothing and a sport that isn't as filthy rich.
Yeah Americans are very impulsive with these kinds of behaviors which I do not encourage but the message I was trying to convey is that parents should have an opinion and not a command to either marry or split-up if that was the case. The final decision should be two people themselves, in this case Chen & Gao, because in the end they won't be happy if the majority of the decision was not made on their behalf. You are right as I think there are problems between the two and NOT just because they are not just following her parent's command.
You don't need millions and millions of $ to live well in CHN. You might not live like a king, but i am sure for players like their lvl, they are guranteed a decent job (mostly coaching) / life when you consider the lower cost of living in Asia.