I was told that there is a saying in China that says, “Where there’s love, there is a way.”
However, for some, it isn’t that easy. High paid white-collar jobs in China are demanding and leave little time for romance, but with western style romance novels and romantic movies leading the way, hearing the word “love” is becoming common.
Although China’s open economy has made many people rich, “love” is still a hard word to say since most Asians are more reserved than westerners.
“Romance Chinese Style” is a film by first-time director Maggie Gu that takes a close look at the romance industry in China that is helping to overcome this shortage of time and abundance of shyness.
Al Jazeera English reports on Maggie Gu’s film and looks at on-line dating, blind dates, double dates, and speed dating that have become popular in China today.
Since China opened to the West, it has become a country in a hurry. Where cars replaced bicycles, fashionable outfits replaced Mao uniforms, the pursuit of romance replaced Party loyalty.
Along the way, in 2007, China’s first speed dating club opened its doors.
In fact, speed dating originated in the US, but the idea traveled to China where for a small fee speed dating takes place over the Internet leading to digital love.
This service allows busy members of China’s growing middle class to meet potential mates, and since many Chinese find it difficult to express their feelings freely, there are new schools where these wealthy professionals discover how to express themselves in the language of romance.
Continued on April 16, 2013 in The Growth of Romance in China: Part 2
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.
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