Frustrated Hong Kong women head to mainland China in search of love

Fiona Lee slipped on a pair of high heels and left her home in Tai Wai in Hong Kong's New Territories yesterday morning and headed for the border, despite the weather forecast for wind and rain.

Aged 28, the office worker was going to the Guanyin Mountain Forest Park in Dongguan, where she would mingle with thousands of single men at a matchmaking event the city was hosting as part of the mainland's annual "singles' day".

Lee was joined by more than 100 other Hongkongers who are using such events, along with dating sites, to find a mainland husband, after deciding the pool at home was too limited.

"Hong Kong is too small to find a perfect husband," Lee said. She preferred single men from leading cities in Guangdong, in their late 20s to late 30s, who are "thoughtful and responsible".

"It will be great if they are professional or entrepreneurs. This kind of single man is hard to encounter in Hong Kong," she said.

Despite the predicted downpour, thousands of other single people turned out for the event in the mountain park after at least 6,000 filed applications online to attend. The event, which is in its third year, attracted 20,000 people from several cities in the delta, like Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dongguan.

Another Hong Kong woman who travelled to Dongguan was drawn by the size of the event.