Group dating events, which draw hundreds of single men and women, have climbed in popularity since they were introduced in Chinese cities. One event in Zhejiang in April attracted 12,658 participants, Xinhua news agency said, while 10,000 showed up for another in Shanghai. Cities are full of young workers, but singletons who spend long hours at the office end up with no time to meet other people, said Wu Xiuping of the Beijing Municipal Women's Federation. The federation has been organizing sessions in the capital for three years. At the dating events, men and women are put into groups to get to know each other and, if they want to, can swap telephone numbers at the end. Ms Wu said group dating was particularly popular with women. FULL ARTICLE @ BBC
Mark Brooks: I visited China for the Asian internet dating convention in May this year. The city was dotted with building cranes and in some areas on the outskirts the entire skyline was lined with tall building cranes manically erecting the new Beijing 'burbs. I had a very pleasant girl chat me up on a bus. She went so far as to request that I call her. Times are changing in China. Internet dating is hot, but the challenges are significant. It's rather like going back in time to the late '90's, only in China, there's the prospect of reaching a billion people. Sites like Baihe.com and Yeeyoo.com are growing fast. How fast? I'll see if I can get some ranking numbers from iresearch.