LI Chenchen and her boyfriend got married recently after dating for two years. Unlike most Chinese newlyweds, they were neither childhood sweethearts nor college classmates.
The 28-year-old Shanghai marketing specialist, concerned about her romantic prospects, registered with an online dating website where she listed the attributes she was seeking in an ideal mate. Bingo! After a few months of sorting through prospective partners, she found her Mr Right.
"A colleague of mine recommended this website to me, and I subscribed," Li said. "I didn't pay for what it called 'premium match-making' that cost up to 10,000 yuan (US$1,151) and provided names of possible men to me. I wanted to choose myself."
There are an estimated 180 million single people of marriageable age in China, according to a recent survey. Families and neighborhood matchmakers still play a role, but many modern young people don't want decisions made for them in choosing a spouse.
Moreover, about 24 percent of parents of marriageable age children are also trying to help them find suitable mates, according to the 2010 China Marital Status Report, which estimates its active market at about 2.2 million.
The report was released in December by the China Association of Marriage and Family, the Committee of Matchmaking Service Industries and matchmaking website Baihe.com. Some 32,676 people between the ages of 20 and 26 were interviewed across the Chinese mainland.
Many young Chinese in search of love connect through the booming social network websites, but online entrepreneurs seek a more specific market opportunity aimed at those feeling anxious about their single status.
Shenzhen-based Zhenai.com was among the earliest websites offering a platform for young men and women to find partners.
Zhenai, which in Chinese means "cherished love," was co-founded by former Wall Street investment banker Li Song and Roger Chen, former manager at Dell China.
The website began in 2005 and charges about 1,000 yuan for a six-month membership that gives users access to a database of the lovelorn. That fee has since risen to 3,000 yuan.
Member also may access the offline services of 1,200 professional matchmakers, called hong niang, who offer advice how to develop personal relationships.
"These professional matchmakers are often important because online information may not be effective enough," Li Song said. "The biggest difference between us and social networking sites like Kaixin001.com and Renren.com is that we target people who specifically want to get married and start families."
These people, he said, have pretty specific ideas about the kind of partners they are looking for, whereas Kaixin001 and Renren are more targeted at general friendship networking.
Li Song said the company's membership list will soon top 30 million people. In 2004 and 2005, Zhenai received US$12.5 million from three institutional investors in the United States, Japan and Singapore. The company declined to comment further on its financial structure or possible listing in China or on an overseas stock market.
Dating websites, which generally decline to give any figures on their success rates, began five or six years ago without any fees for access to their databases. But fees are now common as the online matchmaking industry has grown and matured.
TV stations have also got into the act. Many create special matchmaking entertainment shows where single men and women go on air to see if they strike up some chemistry.
Many websites are offering online registration for these TV shows and provide eligible candidates to TV stations after combing through their personal information data. The tie-up also benefits the websites, which may attract TV viewers to their services.