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Scouting for Spouses by TV

Zhao Hong of IPS reports
***Trendy marriage-minded Chinese are eschewing the services of the traditional matchmaker, appearing on television to actively look for a spouse.
IN a country where the search for a spouse is a task largely left to official matchmakers or re la fives, appearing on television to actively solicit a partner is nothing less than a revolution in Chinese behaviour
But ever since it opened tn September Beijing Televl ston s (BTV) dating game pro gramme let » Meet Tonight s. has been a runaway hit with the capital s 10 million view
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kMeed the ISotSnuto programme does not appear to be In danger of running out of men and women to feature In Its four times weekly show The station is swamped with applications to appear on the programme despite the stiff 60 yuan (US* 12) entry fee *
TV opens up a new way for people to seek love. It is a rev olution form parent-arranged marriages matchmaking of flees and marriage ads In newspapers in that people have .more choice and a clearer
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The anchor or the subjects themselves describe their characteristics hobbies family
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Tho^-^oh^e appeared In the programme, the fourth such show to run In China, have included businessmen, retired officials, journalists, factory workers, teachers and even a graduate student studying in the United States.
"Our programme differs from TV dating games In Japan and the United States whicl are meant to mainly entertain. When the Chinese let themselves be shown on television looking for a spouse, they arc serious." said anchorwoman YangGuang.
A surprisingly large number of applicants have a high professional and social status, being the most receptive to new ideas, says Yang.
Liao Guangrong, a 27-year-old chemical engineer working for a French company in Beijing, said he joined the programme because "TV provides me with a better chance to know more people outside my immediate environment."
Ren LI. a middle-aged and divorced Journalist who said she was looking for a "virtuous" husband, met a sports coach through the show. The two have been dating regularly since.
Yang said attractive women and men with above-average social status and housing are the most likely to receive responses.
Yu emphasises, however, that the programme aims to serve and educate, to "establish among our audience healthy thinking about marriage".
For instance, one' episode presented a 65-year-old widower looking for a wife to encourage the idea that older people also have the right "to love and be loved" — a notion rejected by most Chinese.
In another programme which featured a retired worker with a 12-room house. Yang reminded the audience ‘ not to put material things above all other qualities.
Yang also sets limits on what subjects are allowed to say; She admonished a young girl who said she wanted to appear on TV to find a foreigner so she could live a wealthy life and emigrate abroad.
"Your motive Is wrong." she told the girl. "However, if a foreigner falls In love with you after seeing you on TV, it is a different thing.' The girl dropped the idea of appearing on the show.