With rising religiosity in China's Hui Muslim community, marrying within the faith has become a lot more important today than it was before, as is adhering to Islamic requirements on modesty in dressing. On Sunday, January 23, dozens of young Hui men and women -- and their parents -- participated in a matchmaking event conducted for them at the Beiyao Mosque in Luoyang, Henan province. more ›

Things just got a little lonelier in the PLA. After an order banning soldiers from blogging or creating websites was passed a few weeks ago, soldiers are now also forbidden from virtual job hunts, accessing social networking sites or taking advantage of one of the internet's finest amenities: online dating. more ›

The Chinese media is rife with reports of a 25 year old Shanghai woman, Chan Juan (pseudonym), who supposedly gave up her RMB10,000 job, spent RMB100,000 in search of the ideal husband and cycled over 2,000 kilometres from Guangzhou to Shanghai to attend a matchmaking party that was organised just for her. She was promised by the organiser that 1,000 young men would be waiting for her but eventually only two men showed up, one from Shandong and the other from Zhejiang. More than 30 candidates from Shanghai were said to have indicated interest but all chickened out at the last minute.
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Some 3,000 single men and women gathered last week at the Luwan Stadium for a mass matchmaking session, and by all appearances it looked like a very successful event. The men lined up in rows while the women went past them (do we detect some sexism there?) and if anyone liked each other, they could have a quick chat and exchange numbers. Some speed dating event that will make even the Moonies with all their lavish mass weddings eat their heart out. more ›

Shanghai Daily tells us that around 30 members of the Shanghai Matchmaking Trade Association (yes, there is such an organization), have signed an agreement promising to be honest to their customers. If information provided by these agencies turn out to be false, or if their service isn't satisfying, customers will get a refund. The trade association also said they will inspect these companies once a year to make sure they live up to their standards. more ›

The latest edition of Sexy Beijing explores the phenomenon of parents seeking partners for their children at 'Parental Matchmaking Sessions' in parks — a trend that has caught the attention of Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who recently floated the idea to the city-state of 4 million in his National Day Rally speech as a way to increase the republic's fertility rate of 1.29, which is far below the replacement level of 2.1. more ›