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China’s growing number of older singles are following the young and turning to online dating to find companionship
- Social attitudes about remarriage are changing in China, and society is more supportive of older people remarrying
- Unlike in the past, China’s elderly and middle-aged singles are turning to modern technology
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Over two decades after his divorce, Wang Rulin, 62, decided it was time to give marriage another chance.
It only took two weeks for the retiree, a former auxiliary police officer from Jiangsu province in eastern China, to find someone he believed could be a suitable partner.
“We’ve been chatting happily online and are seeing each other after the Lunar New Year. She is nine years younger than me and has a good pension scheme. Of course, she is healthy,” he said.
Wang did not find his potential match through a blind date at a public park, the most common traditional marriage market throughout China. Instead, he copied what the younger generations do for dating these days: he took to the internet.
Wang, who lives alone now because his grown son moved to a different city, found a digital matchmaker on the live-streaming app Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
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