All love lost with premarital spying

Increasing amounts of Shanghainese residents are employing spies to spy on prospective spouses of their presumably spoilt sprogs.

Detectives will look into a potential spouse's education, criminal record, finances, family background, health and even talk to friends and co-workers to learn about the person's personality. An investigation usually lasts one to two weeks depending on the client's requirements.

The parents say they want to find the dull and sycophantic 'Mr. Predictable' with a 'stable salary' "right" person for their children, and George Huang, a spokesperson for Shanghai Tondorer Private Detective Company, quipped that the "parents just hope to see their children make the right choices".

Liu Jun, a Shanghai psychologist, said online dating and chatting had weakened people's ability to trust each other.

We think that the world has gone mad and another attempt to 'fast-track' marriages isn't the best idea for the future of society. But Shanghaiist is no psychologist, and certainly no parent, so what do we know. This does however give us an idea for a romantic-comedy in which the spy inadvertantly falls in love with the woman he has been spying on -- with hilarious results. We even have an original name -- "The Spy Who Loved Me". Ka-ching!

Picture from Emotion Eric.

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