Matchmaking agencies are mushrooming in China, but as well as helping lonely hearts find their perfect mate, they are also doing a thriving business helping married people find lovers, state media said.
The problem, which is found in many Chinese cities, was highlighted recently by a study conducted in Beijing by an advisory body to the city government.
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) sent undercover investigators to several matchmaking firms that offered to help the investigators find a lover even though they said they were married, the Beijing Morning Post said on Sunday.
The study revealed that the matchmaking firms have many married clients on their books.
One operator was quoted by the Post as saying: "The people registered with us are not only single people or divorcees. Many are people looking for a boyfriend or girlfriend. Times have changed, there's nothing wrong with (that)."
The problem has become so prevalent that the Ministry of Civil Affairs is drafting a law to regulate the "chaotic" industry, according to a China Daily report last year.
Extramarital affairs have become increasingly common as personal incomes grow and social values change.
Many people who married for political reasons or convenience during tumultous periods such as the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, now feel it is safe and acceptable to seek a partner they love, social scientists said.
During the Cultural Revolution, young city dwellers were forced to spend years laboring along with peasants in the countryside.
Quite a few of these people married those who could help them return to the city or married someone just because they were of marrying age, said Chen Xinxin, who studies the problem for China's Women's Federation.
In the past, promiscuity resulted in castigation by one's peers, demotion or even incarceration. But now people turn a blind eye to others' personal affairs, Chen said.
Cheating is so common that Chinese lawmakers are screening new draft rules that will punish men for cheating on their wives.
The report said that about 200,000 people in Beijing are registered with some 1,528 matchmaking agencies.
Charging between 300 yuan (36 dollars) to 500 yuan, the companies do a lucrative business.
The CPPCC is calling on the government to crack down on the agencies -- BEIJING (AFP)
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