Not sure about meaning of sentence - and the plot kinda depends on it

[SunnySideUp]

Hello all - 大家好！

This is my first post, so I hope I found the right category for my question. I've been reading some of the Chinese breeze books (300 and 500 level) and so far it's been going great, but there is one bit I'm not getting at all even though I do know and understand the characters (or so I thought). Maybe someone here can help me decipher the meaning... it's the book 

你最喜欢谁？

I'll try to ask in Chinese, so here goes:

先生见面一个小姐，但是不可结婚 因为他从北京。为什么？句子是：

“他来北京的时候，爸爸，妈妈，哥哥，姐姐都对说：你找要朋友，别找北京人，还是找个家也在我们这里的，两人能常常一起回家看一看。找一个北京人，她不能常常跟你回来。“
So his parents and all his siblings tell him even though he lives in Beijing, he should not look for a girl from Beijing, because if the girl was from Beijing, they couldn't visit that often? Is that it? I feel like I'm missing the point here, because if that girl was from somewhere else and had their family say in Shanghai, then she might also not go to his parents that often, because she wants to check in on her parents instead. Maybe I'm overthinking this, but the whole plot sort of depends on him not getting with the girl from Beijing at that time, so I thought I'd ask this embarrassingly easy question... Thank you!

 

[stapler]

 Ideally the family wants him to find a girl whose hometown is close to his own family’s so that when they go back home on important holidays they will come back together. Many Chinese live in other cities, towns, and provinces to the one they were born in but during the spring festival and other big holidays they will go back to 老家. Culturally this is extremely important for Chinese families and often they will go so far as to excommunicate children who date people who have hometowns or provinces different from their own.

 

edit - 北京人 to me implies a ‘local’ Beijing person as opposed to someone who has moved there from say Shanghai

[edelweis]

(一)个家也在我们这里的 = one whose family is also at our place (village)

我们这里 = here, where we are.

[SunnySideUp]

Ah thanks so much! That really makes sense now. Thank you!

[SunnySideUp]

Okay, I wanted to report back since I've now finished the book. They of course realize they've fallen for each other... and end up briefly discussing the aforementioned issue that she's from Beijing. And here's that dialogue:

A: 你不是不想找北京人吗？

B：那是以前的事，不要说了。现在我知道了，那儿的人没关系，问题是两个人想的要一样，能想到一起，说到一起！跟我结婚吧，好吗？

Does this mean there was something else at play beforehand than just the distance to his family's province? Do Beijingers have a certain reputation among people from other provinces? Or is that simply a plot device to keep them apart for the first bit of the book?

He's now saying that it doesn't matter where someone is from, but that it's important that they feel they are cut from the same cloth (=want to be the same), can think and talk together - correct? The family doesn't come up again...;)

Thank you!

[Xinyi Zhang]

I'm a native speaker but didn't be trained to teach chinese,so I can't understand your confuse,but I will try to translate these sentense ,hope it can help you.

A: 你不是不想找北京人吗？(you said you don't want marry Beijinger)

B：那是以前的事，不要说了。(I used to be think in that way,but i change my mind now)现在我知道了，那儿的人没关系，问题是两个人想的要一样，能想到一起，说到一起！(now i know the most important thing is the two have consensus instaed of where is the person from)跟我结婚吧，好吗？(would you marry me?)