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By Angie, February 22, 2010 10:58 am

A full-page ad in the Shanghai’s Xinmin Evening News read:

“Man looking for a wife aged around 26, who should be above 1.65 meters in height, as beautiful and pure as a lotus flower, fair-skinned and slim, and mild-mannered.”  Other qualifications are: traditional Chinese virtues, the desire to stay at home after marriage and to be well-educated.

Does this sound like you? If so, you could be well on your way to marrying this self-made millionaire who is “1.77 meters high, nearly 40 years of age, and having an annual income of at least 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million).”

!!!

More than 5,000 copies of the newspaper ad were circulated in Shanghai universities.

In a country of 1.3 billion inhabitants, one would think that the odds of finding a match to be relatively high.  However, that is not the case in China, where 24 million Chinese men will find themselves lacking wives by 2020 because of the country’s gender imbalance (source: Chinese Academy of Social Sciences).

This is bad news for single men in China, especially as women are becoming increasingly better educated and with ambitious careers in mind.  Women are looking to men at the top of the social hierarchy, leaving less qualified men behind and unconsidered.  This also leads to a larger pool of smart, educated and talented women for successful men to consider.

Throw in a shortage of time for dating due to a frenzied career, and this forces many of China’s millionaires to seek outside assistance in the form of dating websites and companies.

Enter products to meet the demand.

“Golden Bachelor” is an online dating site catering to the expanding class of wealthy men in China who have everything they desire – except for a soul-mate.  A Golden Bachelor membership goes for 300,000 yuan and has already attracted 5 million members.

She says: 只为寻觅一份真爱，我很累很累，一个爱诗文也爱下厨房的平凡女人，真想拥有停靠的港湾，如果你是我的有缘人，来吧！让我们两颗冰冷的心互相取暖。我会牵着你的手风雨同舟…
Translated: “I am very tired and wish only to find true love.  I am a humble woman with a love for poetry and cooking.  Together we can warm two cold hearts.  I will be holding your hand through thick and thin.”

This profile attracted 303,150 views from site members.

Membership fees include a bevy of relationship experts and psychologists at their disposal to answer questions about love and marriage.  The fees also pay for “Love Hunters”, which are company staff who scour the streets for potential candidates for marriage.  Hanging around universities, shopping malls and subway stations, they will approach young attractive women with a quick street questionnaire.  If they pass, they will be invited to attend a lavish matchmaking party.

The last matchmaking party was on December 20, 2009 and was sold out, despite the hefty 100,000 yuan price tag for attending bachelors.  21 single men and 22 single ladies took place in this event and the women modeled wedding gowns, and showed off talents, such as singing, cooking, and dancing.  It was reported that the event boasted an 80% success rate in securing the bachelors a date.

A young, single Chinese bachelor/bachelorette’s quest for love is only going to become increasingly difficult as more and more Chinese move from rural to urban areas for their career.  This takes them away from family and friends, the traditional way for couples to meet.  iResearch reported China’s online dating market to be worth $43.9 million in 2008, and is expected to nearly double to $83.4 million in 2010.  With such rapid growth, coupled with China’s love affair with the internet, online dating and romance are sure to be hot topics for the next little while yet!

… love and relationships and the online quest of Chinese bachelors is definitely an interesting trend to keep an eye on.

Comments (1)

By Angie, December 1, 2009 1:08 am

“For parents, we have a word called “敬爱” which combines respect and love.  ”I love you” may be a spoken language in English but it’s a written language in China, so I think most of Chinese people didn’t say it to their parents.  Chinese people express their love to their parents in an understated way.  More activities than words.  They will buy things for their parents or take a trip with their parents.  Verbal expression is not important in China; activity is most important.”