Exclusive Online Matchmakers Charge Sky-High Fees, Organize Lavish Events; But Is This Smart Business Or Overkill?#
This week, a CNN article on the big business of online matchmaking in China looks at exclusive services targeting China's super-rich bachelors. According to the article, membership sites like "Golden Bachelor" charge upwards of 300,000 RMB (US $44,000) for their matchmaking services, which pair men with personal or family wealth of at least 2 million yuan ($292,000) to women who meet strict height, weight and appearance guidelines. According to the article, matchmaking businesses like Golden Bachelor will probably become more common in coming years, as China's notorious gender disparity (approximately 120 male children are born to every 100 female) could mean that upwards of 24 million men will be unable to find wives by 2020:
"More and more Chinese people are finding love from Web sites," said [Xu Tianli, founder of Golden Bachelor], 36. "The difference between us from other dating sites is we only focus on high-level clients -- those with a high social status or superior physical condition. We don't focus on the mass general public."
Golden Bachelor says it has 5 million registered members and employs psychologists and special matchmaking consultants to personally assist multi-millionaires in their pursuit of romance.
And then there also are the so-called "love hunters" -- staff who travel around the country in search of China's most beautiful bachelorettes to bring to the lavish matchmaking parties the company throws.
The last one was on December 20 in Beijing in a luxury hotel. The ticket price was 100,000 yuan, ($14,600); 21 single women and 22 single men attended. Ladies took part in a wedding gown show and also sang, danced, even cooked for their moneyed suitors during a talent program. Eighty percent of those who came found a date, according to the company.
Behind Golden Bachelor's extravagance is a telling trend of what the future of finding love in China could look like. In a society where 24 million Chinese men will find themselves lacking wives by 2020 because of the country's gender imbalance, according to a recent study by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, it could get highly competitive.
While matchmaking services are not new to China -- a walk around virtually any city reveals plenty of traditional (e.g., offline) matchmakers, and the Chinese government has even launched a dating website aimed at connecting single government employees -- the type of service offered by companies like Golden Bachelor, which charge huge membership fees, have only appeared in recent years. In general, however, matchmaking services don't carry the same stigma in China that they do in some other countries, as the Irish Times noted last month in their coverage of Golden Bachelor's Beijing event:
There is no stigma attached to turning to a matchmaker to help you find a partner in China. Within the traditional Confucian structure, since ancient times, matchmaking was traditionally carried out by the hong niang , which translates as an “auspicious red mother”, and even in the bustling financial capital Shanghai, 7 per cent of couples say they met through the work of a matchmaker.
Although it can be argued that sites like this exist all over the world, many English-language articles are casting this as a reflection of the decadence of China's moneyed elite; So what's the reaction in China to online matchmaking companies that cater to China's billionaires, like Golden Bachelor? From an admittedly cursory glance at some Chinese internet forums, we got the sense that the reaction is -- perhaps inevitably -- mixed.
While some, including a few women who took part in events organized by Golden Bachelor and other companies, said the events were no big deal, and a decent way to meet potential suitors:
Wang Rongrong said she couldn't help but try online 'marriage hunting': "At a suitable time I couldn't find a suitable person, and when I found a suitable person the time just wasn't right. I was so busy at work, and it wasn't like I didn't have any contact with people, but I just couldn't find the right guy."
Others, like this commenter on Tianya, felt Golden Bachelor's style of matchmaking was excessive:
In this day and age, not even money can take care of everything, for example if you want a "happy family." Money and power are still really separate from one another. Money can't buy everything, even though it might help strike an equilibrium between money and love, but if you've got power, you don't have to find this equilibrium. So, if all you've got is money, there are plenty of things you still need to "haggle over."
Regardless of public opinion, this type of "elite" matchmaking service is likely going to thrive in China, and possibly become something of a norm in some cities, particularly as the gender gap becomes more apparent in coming years.