Exclusive matchmaking in Europe and the US generally follows the same trends. It’s the cosmopolitan dating solution for the elite. Westerners, who, as a group, form their own distinct international community, are so spread out and so busy, it’s difficult to find ‘the one’. Members of the international clique want to meet someone who has also moved around various countries, speaks multiple languages, and has an open-mindedness and curiosity of the world that echoes their own. Hence why exclusive matchmaking is becoming both popular and necessary. My clients are in contact with thousands of people in their global playground, but crowds create noise…and confusion. To the untrained eye, there appears to be too much choice. Dig a little deeper and it’s hard to find someone who is truly compatible. Finding a life partner has become a genuine challenge. In the western world we are accustomed to bringing in the experts/outsourcing/delegating. It’s what we do when we place a high value on our time as well as a value in someone else’s expertise. Exclusive matchmaking is therefore becoming a necessity amongst those who, quite frankly, are too good to be single.
Head east to China and it’s a very different story. Here, everyone who is single is getting involved with matchmaking, from the masses to the supremely wealthy. With China’s economy and future booming, the Chinese people are experiencing a new found freedom and independence not experienced until now; young people are making money, buying houses, forging wonderful careers – but the one thing holding them back from complete happiness is a spouse. Matchmaking in China is nothing new, for centuries the Chinese have been matching their offspring for social and economic reasons. They are quite familiar with the concept of a good match, however never before has there been such fervor associated with finding a life partner for young, single people.
Why? Because with the growing gender gap troubling China today, finding a partner has become rather like a game of musical chairs. No man wants to be left unpaired when the music stops, but unfortunately with an excess of 24 million unmarried men, it’s all becoming a bit of a mad scramble. This has created a surge of matchmaking phenomena over recent years that are taking the single Chinese market by storm. From the super-rich paying exclusive matchmaking agencies in China enormous fees (it is rumoured that the top Chinese introduction agency charges a heart-stopping £500,000) to vet prospective spouses, to the middle and working classes attending 3-day matchmaking expos that to the untrained eye would appear rather like a career convention. Parents congregate sporting homemade fliers advertising their children and women are schooled by life coaches on how to brand themselves. Top of the list is The Shanghai Marriage Market, which is held in a park and where parents gather every Sunday in their thousands holding placards advertising their single sons and daughters, all are in the hunt for love, and fast!
In a culture where children have infinite respect for their parents’ beliefs and opinions, dating in modern day china is changing fast – from paying exclusive matchmaking professionals to appearing on dating game shows, a pro-active search is becoming increasingly common.
Here is our list of what’s hot in the Chinese dating scene:
- Diamond Love and Marriage: China’s largest premier ‘love hunting’ agency
- Dating game show Fei Cheng Wu Rao, inspired by Britain’s Take Me Out
- Online dating (Jiayuan has more than 73 million members)
- The Shanghai Marriage Market (open for 2 hours every Saturday and Sunday in the city’s People’s Park)
- Golden Bachelor Matchmakers banquets
- Love and marriage annual expo (attended by 18,000 singles)
