{"id":10589,"date":"2014-11-17T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2014-11-17T12:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=10589"},"modified":"2014-11-13T23:54:46","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T03:54:46","slug":"chinese-dating-game-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/chinese-dating-game-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Dating Game Shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since I talked about online dating<\/a> in the last post, I figured I might as well jump into the wild world of Chinese dating game shows today. Alongside the explosion of the online dating market in China, game shows full of young Chinese who are single and ready to mingle have also gotten incredibly popular in recent years. It all started with one show, so that’s where we’ll begin:<\/p>\n

If You Are the One (\u975e\u8bda\u52ff\u6270 – f\u0113i ch\u00e9ng w\u00f9 r\u01ceo)<\/h2>\n
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If You Are the One<\/p><\/div>\n

This smash TV program – whose name literally means “if not sincere then don’t disturb” – is far and away the most popular dating show on Chinese TV. It’s so popular, in fact, that it is now even broadcast in Australia and New Zealand with English subtitles. If you haven’t seen the show, here’s the basic premise:<\/p>\n

Twenty-four women stand in an arc on stage and are greeted by a single man. The eligible bachelor carefully chooses his “heartbeat girl<\/strong>” (\u5fc3\u52a8\u5973\u751f – x\u012bn d\u00f2ng n\u01da sh\u0113ng), whom he reveals only to the host. Each lady is situated behind a lit up podium. To begin, a few short videos are shown to introduce the guy. After the videos, the girls can choose to turn their light off, thus signalling their lack of interest. A new feature allows ladies to turn on a “burst light<\/strong>” (\u7206\u706f – b\u00e0o d\u0113ng) – her light changes to a pulsating heart and she has punched her ticket to the final round. There can end up being a few girls in the final round, where the guy will ask a series of questions and try to narrow it down to one. Even if his “heartbeat girl” turned her light off, she’s still automatically in the finals where he can try to win her over. In the end, the guy will either choose a girl or elect to depart alone. Ditto for the ladies – they can accept his offer of a date or tell him no thanks.<\/p>\n