Leading match-making internet companies in China boast millions of members. Technology now also seems to be an indispensable tool to help people find other people.
Gong Haiyan, the founder of jiayuan.com, said urbanization and migration have hauled people to places thousands of miles away from their hometowns, a process that has broken down the traditional system that once helped them build a family.
Bars and clubs – places to meet strangers – are still forbidden zones to many Chinese, who find the idea of finding a date there unnerving.
So the hunt for romance goes online.
Dating companies provide sophisticated questionnaires designed, it is claimed, to "truthfully reflect the spiritual status of the user, thus enhancing the success rate of matches." Global Times reports that precautions are in place against misuse, such as a need to submit photocopies of your ID card and diploma.