http://www.theage.com.au/world/lonely-hearts-compete-for-a-date-with-destiny-20111114-1nffv.html
Lonely hearts compete for a date with destiny
Nicola Davison
November 15, 2011
Looking for love … thousands of singletons descended on the match-making expo in the hope of finding a partner. Photo: AP
SHANGHAI: In Thames Town - a bizarre suburban re-creation of a traditional British town, complete with mock Tudor architecture - elbows are sharp on day one of an inaugural match-making expo, an event formulated to tackle the city's burgeoning number of lonely hearts.
At 10.30am, uniformed guards stem a swarm of hopefuls trying to enter the main hall where people crane at the boards and scribble in notebooks.
Outside, red velvet-lined tables are privy to a mass speed dating event. In the church square, unofficial match-making markets have sprung up, with pieces of paper scrawled with telephone numbers attached to fences.
Aspiring lovers ... Shanghai's singles gather to celebrate SIngles Day at the matchmaking expo.
Like New York or London, Shanghai has become a city of career-obsessed workaholics, the organisers said, leaving many people with little time to find their perfect match.
So 40 of the city's dating agencies held Shanghai's first ''Marriage and Love Expo'', to a dramatic response.
Thousands of singletons gathered at the expo at the weekend, an event so popular that organisers halted online registration after double the expected number signed up. Estimates of those attending ranged from 10,000 to 40,000.
In downtown Shanghai, 24.3 per cent of people over the age of 15 are unmarried, a rise of 1.6 per cent, the Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau says.
A lack of young women, a result of the skewed rate of baby boys born under China's one-child policy, means an estimated 30 million to 50 million men will be without a wife in 20 years.
On the thousands of cards lining 2.4-metre billboards throughout the hall, details of hopefuls' height, birth date and education are accompanied by annual income.
Many of the singletons are accompanied by their parents.
''My father is very worried because, as I'm 29, soon it might be difficult for me to get pregnant,'' said Huang Yushu, a translator for a manufacturing company.
Strikingly, in the town hall the number of singletons around the blue cards is double those scanning the pink. When it comes to the male-to-female singleton ratio, Shanghai is bucking the national trend. Here the number of older single women (30-44) outstrips older single men.
''The problem is all the good candidates are already married,'' Ms Huang said. ''Women like me aged 28-35 are in the 'awkward stage'.''
Single women over 27 are known as sheng nu, or ''leftovers''.
Guardian News & Media; Telegraph, London
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/world/lonely-hearts-compete-for-a-date-with-destiny-20111114-1nffv.html#ixzz1dogE02eQ
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