Dating agencies to help Hong Kong's career women find a husband
Matchmakers tell Bernice Chan why so many of the city's career women seek their help to snare a husband
Mei Ling Ng Liu is not one to mince words. She became a sensation last year after TVB's controversial reality dating show , in which she appeared as a matchmaker telling female participants what she really thought of them, and their chances of finding a partner.
In one episode, a participant is encouraged by a life coach to have plastic surgery to improve her looks. She declines, saying it is not the key to true love. But Liu tells her, "No man likes an ugly woman", suggesting that she should have gone under the knife.
When I ask women what they like, they say, 'Chanel handbags'. I tell them I don't have a man who likes Chanel bags in my database
The show generated interest and outrage, pulling in an estimated 1.7 million viewers.
The founder of dating service Hong Kong Matchmakers, which gives no-nonsense advice to clients - all of whom are female - seems to imply that Hong Kong women are all self-obsessed snobs.
"Hong Kong women should shut up and not complain so much," she says. Liu first summarised insights from her matchmaking experience last year in a guide, . She has followed it up with which was launched last week at the Hong Kong Book Fair. It's available in Chinese and English.
She believes women aren't in a position to make many demands when the gender ratio is so skewed towards men. University of Hong Kong demographer Paul Yip Siu-fai estimates there are about 876 men for every 1,000 women in Hong Kong. In 2011, there were 209,000 single women, more than double the number in 1996. So females have tough competition finding a mate.
