The emergence of China as an economic superpower

Need a new girlfriend or perhaps a wife? More and more Chinese men and woman have sought out the help of online matchmaking sites to find life partners. As China's male to female ratio continues to widen in large due to the infamous One Child Policy, females have had the upperhand in determining what qualities they seek in their potential partners.

However, this trend might be on the verge of coming to an end. Online matchmaking sites, such as Baihe.com, the largest online matchmaking community, have attracted millions of men and women to find love and relationship online -- then offline. Every year, more than 10,000 new couples in China first met their partners through matchmakers.

In fact, from a business point of view, matchmaking (especially the online type) is becoming one of the more lucrative and booming industries in China. Revenues are typically generated from online advertising and membership fees, with little experience and maintenance fee required for setup. Many of these websites have similar business models and principles, but the market is backed by an exponential growth in internet access and users within China. A recent report indicates that cyber matchmaking will churn out more than 70% of total revenue from the online communications market in 2008.

Now here's a tip: the difference between Western (Yahoo! Personals and eharmony) and Chinese matchmaking sites is in its usage. The typical American would use matchmaking sites seeking short- to mid-term relationships, whereas the typical Chinese would use the same sites for long-term development. Tian Fanjiang, owner of Baihe.com, attributes this difference to traditional Asian marriage values and dating habits, hence he tends to focus his research on countries such as Japan and South Korea, where similar matchmaking markets have already taken off and generate many times the profit of China's markets.