Unlike its name, Singles’ Day in China does not actually celebrate singledom. Falling on 11th November due to the date containing the numeral one four times, Singles’ Day is all about finding the one. Much like Valentine’s, its lead-up sees the lovelorn scrambling to secure a date against a backdrop of restaurant promotions and heart-shaped merchandise.
ut finding love is not so easy in China. A potent mixture of one-child family planning, economic reform and urbanisation has created a generation of youth who work long hours and live in soulless apartment blocks. It is a societal shift that has made strangers of millions, and relegated the age of parents matchmaking children to the past.
At the same time, old attitudes die hard. Marriage remains an ideal, with parents (and grandparents) still exerting a large amount of pressure on their kids to tie the knot. Women bear this burden the most. If unable to find a groom, they run the risk of being labelled leftover from age 27 onwards.
So what is a single person to do? Head online apparently. China might be a nation full of lonely onlys, but it is also a nation of Internet and iPhone users. Instead of waiting for fate, or a pushy parent, an increasing number of Chinese are seeing technology as the answer. And there are plenty of Chinese companies that are more than happy to help.
The latest addition is a site called Izhenxin. Launched at the end of October, presumably to cash in on Singles’ Day, Izhenxin adopts a stripped down approach to romance, being aimed at marriage-minded singles. It is owned by China’s foremost dating site, Jiayuan, which has been so successful that it is now listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
China might be a nation full of lonely onlys, but it is also a nation of Internet and iPhone users. Instead of waiting for fate, or a pushy parent, an increasing number of Chinese are seeing technology as the answer. And there are plenty of Chinese companies that are more than happy to help.
On the less serious end of the spectrum is Momo, a popular social networking app for iPhone and Android phones which facilitates meeting new people nearby. With its reputation for easy hook-ups, it has attracted millions of users, all of whom are presumably getting to know their neighbours much, much better.
Of course the answer to China’s single person crisis does not lie in these sites and apps alone. As China modernizes so too should its attitude towards relationships. In the interim though, whether it be for a quick fling or happily ever after, technology is certainly making courtship easier, more dynamic, and for some, very profitable.
