Editor’s note: Four decades of reform and opening-up have only made China the second largest economy in the world, but they have also replaced people’s way of life, adding new and hitherto unknown elements to their demands. A veteran China Daily journalist attempts to analyze the conversion nature of dating behaviors and attitudes.

The other young people in China, especially teenagers, have little free time due to the strain of painting or studying. As a result, an increasing number of other young people are turning to the internet to go on a date or find a life partner. Although detailed knowledge about the number of young people logging in for this goal is not available, a survey of young men running in the data generation sector shows that around 80% of them are active on dating sites.

Not all other young people would join specialized dating sites to look for a partner, but online matchmaking has a big business in China. Baihe Jiayuan Network Group, the country’s most popular online matchmaking website, for example, claims that it has nearly 7 million active users in a given month and has served more than two hundred million users since its launch in two hundred4.

Some are free, as the trading strategy of their traders is to make money through higher adjustment fees. But the data provided on those sites is incomplete and far from reliable. ($15,808), depending on the amount of resources and the quality of service provided.

But despite court cases opposing some internet sites for falsifying data and misleading consumers (some sites have even been fined by supervisors for professional misconduct), operators of online matchmaking sites have never run out of consumers. There are about 240 million single adults under the age of 40 in China, many of whom have left their places of origin and moved to other cities and regions. The fact that they don’t have close relatives or friends in the new environment means they don’t yet have options to spend online to date.

In the past, marriage decisions were made through parents. When their children reached the age of marriage, parents paid the classic matchmakers to find the right spouse for their children’s lives. Such marriages were celebrated with the consent of the boy’s and girl’s parents, however, after the groom’s appearance “offered” a beautiful dowry to the bride’s family.

In my grandparents’ time, the bride and groom might not have even met before they got married. This culture questioned after the fall of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). But it was not until the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949 that young people were encouraged to find their own life partner.

For decades, many other young people have dated and then married their classmates, classmates, or colleagues. Some met their spouse for life through friends: my wife and I were brought through my best schoolmate, who turned out to be a lifelong classmate of my wife. in college. Of course, those presentations were free, and all we did to express our appreciation was to send chocolates or chocolates to friends after the wedding.

After the launch of the reform and opening up, other young people began to come to the cities in gigantic numbers to work, and some even settled there. One apparent result of this has been the growing demand for matchmakers. This in turn signaled a return to professional matchmaking as a business: the only difference is that in the past, matchmakers were other people the boyfriends knew on the user, and today’s matchmakers are virtual.

With an investment of a few hundred yuan to download a business license, one can simply open a twinning “business” and place advertisements on street lighting lamps to attract customers. Massive market demand and low initial prices have attracted many other people to the company.

Most of those matchmaking corporations have disappeared and some, smart enough to connect, have survived. Those that are successful have turned twinning into a billion-yuan business, and some, like Baihe Jiayuan, fit into publicly traded corporations.

With increasing demand in the market, it turns out that the matchmaking business is here to stay and thrive. But to ensure that their development is healthy, website and marketplace directors will have to strictly monitor the operation of matchmaking corporations so that online and offline data is real, accurate and reliable, and other people seeking a spouse for life have their wishes granted, instead of being deceived.

kangbing@chinadaily. com. cn

The is the former deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily.