There might be plenty of opportunities to meet people in the flesh, but if you’d rather get on the scene like a text machine, read on. Those who like a challenge will like
BeautifulPeople.com, which only accepts new members that have been voted in by current members. Less pretentious but slightly more creepy is
ChineseLoveLinks.com, which is clearly mining the Asian female/laowai male market; a slightly more even keel can be found at
AsianFriendFinder.com.
Baihe.com, meanwhile, is one of the biggest dating sites in China, but is Mandarin only. All of the above have options for gay and lesbian visitors.
If you’re looking for something more serious, however, then you may want to turn your eyes towards two other Chinese-language websites:
21xiehou.com and
Jiayuan.com, both of which are aimed specifi cally at people looking for spouses rather than boy/girlfriends or anything too casual. And if you’re at the exact opposite end of that scale, then grab your iPhone or Android and download either Grindr (aimed at gay men looking for fun) or Blendr (aimed at people seeking heterosexual hook-ups). Both apps opened in China last year and have picked up a decent number of users, although common consensus suggests that Grindr has a far friskier audience than its heterosexual cousin. Still, both are free to use, and everybody loves an appy ending...