By Zhao Hongyi

In China the TV ratings game is being dominated by matchmaking shows cloned from the West. They are partly a response to the rising number of single men and women of marriageable age seeking to please parents who are worried their sons and daughters will grow old alone. But some say the participants are motivated more by a desire for fame, money and sex rather than by the search for true love.
Top-rated TV dating shows have generated discussions about the younger generation’s obsession with money.

Top-rated TV dating shows have generated discussions about the younger generation’s obsession with money.

As the country’s economy continues to boom and young people are increasingly preoccupied with making money and establishing a  career, men and women are having difficulty finding spouses.

Social planners call it the “singles crisis.” This trend has given birth to matchmaking TV shows, like For Love, Go! Go! Go! on Zhejiang cable TV, My Love Is You! on Anhui cable channel and Sincere Dating on Jiangsu television, which capitalize on viewers’ fantasies to find Mr. or Ms. Right.

But observers say the shows have self-serving intentions: TV stations produce them for profit and participants use them to find money, sex or fame. Critics say the shows impart the wrong values and a warped view of love and life.

Most male participants have been noted emphasizing their wealth – how many houses their families own, how many luxury cars they have and how much money they make – to appeal to female participants. The women, meanwhile, have popularized sentiments like, “I want to become a housewife,” “I must have housekeepers after I get married” and “I do not want to have babies.”

Ma Nuo, a contestant on Sincere Dating, said she owns a BMW and “prefers crying in a BMW to being happy sitting on the back of a bicycle.” She has since gained nationwide fame and has been paid much money as movie stars in the entertainment market.

In an online survey conducted by sohu.com, one of the three portal websites in China, 90 percent of respondents slammed the matchmaking shows, saying they are “distorting the traditional values and thinking of Chinese people, and will have a negative impact on society.”

“These programs are merely a performance venue for participants,” a netizen said. “Why doesn’t the government ax these programs?”

Supporters say the shows merely reflect the realities in the fast-changing Chinese society. “Money, sex and privacy are neither good nor bad,” another netizen said, “it depends on how you view them.”

Experts:

Mirror of social problems

People born in the 1980s and ’90s have reached marriageable age, and I see that they are eager to settle down and are more worried about growing old alone than people born in previous decades.

These programs provide us an opportunity to see and analyze the interesting changes in this generation’s values and attitudes toward love and marriages.

It’s not important what the program guests and participants say. The only thing we should care about is the reality they portray. How do we help young adults solve their love problems? By matchmaking? Giving advice? Providing psychological treatment? If these programs remind us to take a hard look at reality, then they have served their function.

To be frank, these programs are not made with sophistication. If we keep on finding better ways to solve these social problems, I think the quality of such programs will also improve.

– Sha Jian, entertainment and culture columnist, Xinmin Weekly

Allow discussion of hidden values

These matchmaking shows do not promote marriage; instead, they provide a platform for single men and women to date more people. This factor greatly increases the programs’ entertainment value.

These shows tell us that social values are rapidly changing and are becoming more diverse, especially with regard to ideas about marriage held in the 1980s and ’90s. People want more money, a better career and social status, which are rarely discussed seriously. These programs have become a vehicle for people to discuss these “hidden values,” and that is one of the reasons they are popular.

All entertainment programs have an average life expectancy, so we don’t need to worry about their staying power.

Background: Matchmaking shows are popular worldwide

Most matchmaking shows no longer focus on participants’ desire for sex and money, and are instead looking at more important factors leading to marriage.

ABC network in the US has a popular program called Singles, in which producers bring an eligible bachelor to meet a group of 20 to 25 women. It focuses on the ladies’ reactions to the man, who in the end has to pick out a woman for marriage. The program has become so popular that the network is planning to create a spinoff called Single Lady.

In Germany, where there are 14 million single men and women, matchmaking TV shows are equally popular on channels like Pro7, RTL and ZDF. RTL’s version, Find the Wife for a Farmer, involves a farmer bringing single ladies to experience life on his farm. The TV station has prearranged the “price” in exchange for a kiss, a hug, sex and marriage. Unfortunately, many of the women leave the farm once shooting is over, even after they have gotten married.

South Korea is no stranger to such programs. But Keung Yusan, a woman from the countryside, says most South Koreans take marriage very seriously and do not expect to find their spouses on a dating show.

A Los Angeles Times commentary said, “Who will believe that participants are really looking for life partners on these programs? Most of them leave once shooting is done, when they have won a prize and gained popularity.