Matchmaking events to offer fresh hope for lonely hearts
Print Edition
Parents seeking a suitable partner for their unmarried offspring will from next month be able to visit a new “ blind date corner” at Xujiahui.
The city’s matchmaking association said it wants to create a regular event to rival the famous weekend meetings held at People’s Park. The inaugural gathering will be staged in late March at Jingguoyuan on Tianping Road, where the association is based, it said.
Initially the events will be quarterly, but they could become monthly if they prove popular enough, said Zhou Juemin, director of the association.
The number of participants will be limited to between 200 and 300 people per event, Zhou said, adding that applications for the first meet have already started coming in.
“We’re taking calls from eager parents every day.”
The admission fee for each event is 50 yuan (US$8.25) and parents must provide photographs of their children, ID cards, hukou (permanent residence permit), academic qualifications and proof they are actually single, Zhou said.
The organizers will ensure there is an equal split of available men and women.
While People’s Park is well known and very popular, it has also gained a reputation for attracting unlicensed agencies, Zhou said.
“With the new event we hope to provide people with an alternative.”
Worried parents
Matchmaking gatherings are a traditional way for Chinese men and women in their 20s and 30s to meet, and they remain popular because of the rising numbers of “leftover” people. These well-educated, well-paid individuals are finding it harder and harder to find a mate, and their parents are becoming increasingly worried.
“This is a real social problem,” Zhou said.
For almost 10 years, parents have flocked to the weekend events at People’s Park in a bid to find mates for their, often unknowing, sons and daughters. The gatherings can attract up to 2,000 parents at a time.
But with huge crowds come scam artists and con merchants, and the events have developed a reputation for attracting illegal operators who seek to swindle unwitting parents.
A mother surnamed Zhang said she is considering going to the new events in Xujiahui after being bombarded with questions from relatives about whether or not her 31-year-old daughter was dating.
“I get more and more worried as each year passes,” she said.
Aside from the blind date corners, the city’s two largest matchmaking events will take place in Qingpu District in May and November.
Launched in 2011 and organized by the matchmaking association, the events are expected to attract more than 20,000 singles and parents in search of love, Zhou said.
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