‘Baby face’ Chinese man, 45, still single after more than 100 dates in 10 years says entitled to ‘tall, pretty wife’ as he looks young

Feng insists the woman must have been born after the 1990s, is good-looking, no shorter than 160cm, and must be an “authentic” Hangzhou local who was born there.

Fussy Feng, who is 172cm tall, said he would not accept women 159cm or below because he “needs to consider the next generation”, implying that he is thinking about what any future children might look like.

He told Wang he was entitled to be choosy because he has “a baby face and look young”.

Wang said Feng expects too much. She said that although he is a Hangzhou local and an engineer at a public institution, which are usually considered advantages in the matchmaking market, he is not young and he has a speech impediment.

However, Wang said Feng’s biggest problem is being too stingy. She said he does not even buy a drink for his date despite Wang hinting that he should several times.

“It is probably best that he stays single,” said one person on Douyin.

“A baby face would not be a factor that women consider,” said another.

Wang told Feng’s story as a warning to young people seeking a husband or wife, advising them to ensure they have “greater self-awareness” than Feng.

Despite the number of marriages in China dropping for nine consecutive years since 2014 and hitting a record low of 6.83 million in 2022, matchmaking is thriving in the country and has become one of the most sought-after ways to find a future partner.

According to research by the Chinese consulting firm BDR, the online matchmaking market more than doubled from 3.1 billion yuan (US$431 million) in 2015 to 7.2 billion yuan in 2021.

There has also been an increase in matchmaking areas in several cities in China where people advertise their jobs, educational background, and household status on posters for prospective partners to read.

This practice is usually the work of parents trying to find a spouse for their children.

Stories about people who tried but failed to marry via matchmaking sometimes hit the headlines in China.

In 2019, a 28-year-old man from northern China had a hair transplant because he believed his baldness was the reason he had not attracted anyone after 30 dates.