Beijing, February 12: Jiang Hui hasn’t dated a girl since graduating from university four years ago, but the 26-year-old Beijing office worker hopes the internet will make this Valentine’s Day different.
Jiang joined an online dating site and began a cyber-search for a sweetheart three months ago – along with millions of other young Chinese taking advantage of technology and a new found freedom to control their own love lives.
In years past, Jiang, who hails from the central province of Hubei, might have had his future decided by match-making relatives in his rural hometown.
But now he logs on each day to Jiayuan.com – a site that boasts 22 million members – to browse through dozens of new computer-suggested matches. He hasn’t found his dream girl yet, but says he remains hopeful.
“In Beijing, there are maybe two million members, so about one million are girls, There is no way I could have met that many girls in my three years here,” said Jiang, staring at the day’s matches on his laptop in a coffee shop.
Such sites – typically free but with charges for enhanced features – are revolutionising how Chinese interact with the opposite sex, say users and experts.
—Agencies