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Looking for love
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SHENZHEN is a city of business. This is even true when it comes to romance, as evidenced by a big get-together sponsored by the Shenzhen Matchmaking Agency on Saturday night, which was attended by over 1,000 single people, some of them middle-aged and retired.
The agency, one of the city's largest firms whose business it is to bring together Mr. and Mrs. Rights, organized a series of activities to break the ice, such as darts, fishing, ring tossing, ridde guessing, karaoke, dancing and so on.
To help combat awkwardness and shyness, scores of volunteers with red hats circulated through the crowd to help out, including, if necessary, serving as go-betweens.
Each participant was assigned a number, which they wore on a badge. People were able to leave messages to people they were interested on a big board at the back of the hall, and receive responses in kind.
"We are trying every way to provide the single people in the city with opportunities to make friends," Mr Muo Yusheng, vice director of the agency, told Shenzhen Daily.
"Taking into account the needs of middle-aged and retired single people, we don't set limits on the ages of the participants," he added.
According to sources from the agency, women participants far outnumbered men, and up to 70 per cent of the singles were so-called white collars, with college education or above.
Mr Chen, 57, a former enterprise manager and now retired, said: "Since my children are all grown up, I hope to find my final happiness here."
Mr Zhang, 30, flashed a confident smile. "I'm 100 per cent sure I can get a girlfriend here," he said. "But what's more important for me is the courting process afterwards. In my experience, the rate of success afterwards is only 20 to 30 per cent."
Single women of different ages were of different minds when it comes to choosing mates.
Miss Wu, 39, said frankly: "My association with people is quite limited. Work unit and home make up most of my routine life. I'd rather choose someone whom I have feeling for than giving weight to his appearance, education or money."
Miss Xiao, a financial clerk of 29, told Shenzhen Daily, "I don't expect much today, but anyway, giving yourself every opportunity is not bad, is it?"
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