Competition in China to find brides for millionaires · 2010-06-24 20:07
In China money can bring you the pick of 50,000 of China's prettiest girls after one of the country's largest online dating agencies held a competition to find the perfect match for 18 of its dollar-millionaire members.
The competition, run by jiayuan.com, has attracted huge attention in China where online dating is becoming one of the internet’s fastest-growing and most competitive industries, expected to be worth ??120m this year.
Hopefuls from as far afield as Vancouver, Singapore, New York and Paris flew in to China last weekend to join local girls in the first round of auditions which saw an initial selection of 2,600 successful applicants being assessed on the basis of their weight, figures, education and age.
Many were rejected during assessments by a Chinese "fengshui" master who determined which of the candidates had the potential to increase their putative husband's fortune and which had an "unfortunate outlook", according to Cheng Yongsheng, a director of jiayuan.com.
"As tycoons they want suitable wives rather than beauties", added Mr Cheng who said the group of 2,600 had now been whittled down to 130 women who would enter a final round next month, with the lucky 18 finalists attending a party with their potential matches.
The identity of the millionaires has been kept secret, but their average age is 38 and, according to Mr Cheng, all have self-made fortunes from a range of industries including textiles, finance and China’s booming property market, Daily Telegraph reports.
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