No love lost over city park matchmakers
Print Edition
PARENTS who gather weekly at People’s Park to try to find a partner for their offspring say unlicensed matchmakers are blocking the path to true love.
One mother, a frequent visitor to “blind date corner” in the park, called Shanghai Radio to complain about agencies moving in on the event.
As the city’s most popular event of its type, gatherings can attract up to 2,000 parents at a time at the park.
While parents are content to compare photographs and information about their children — often without their knowledge, in a bid to find the perfect match, matchmakers opt for the hard sell.
Using offers involving winning cars or apartments as enticements to sign up, agencies say they will search until they find parents a partner for their offspring, Shanghai Radio reported. Some are even said to hire “bogus boyfriends” to meet single women.
A mother, surnamed Zhang, complained that a matchmaking agent charged several thousand yuan from her and then went missing.
“I kept searching for the agent in the park, but couldn’t find her,” Zhang said.
Another parent said there were parents who were charged nearly 10,000 yuan (US$1,620) as go-between fees, but did not receive any invoice.
A park worker said information provided by these unlicensed agencies is often not checked and some is not correct, according to the report.
Park management said it is difficult to stop the illegal agencies from attending.
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