Blind date TV shows in China have recently been criticized as tools to collect money illegally from single middle-aged men and young women, as the shows fail to introduce the men and women to each other

Blind dating shows in China scam contestants: CCTV

Staff Reporter

2013-10-28

Blind date TV shows in China have recently been criticized as tools to collect money illegally from single middle-aged men and young women, as the shows fail to introduce the men and women to each other, according to state broadcaster China Central Television. A recent CCTV program claimed that such TV shows are more like model contests showing off young girls in skimpy outfits. The women selected are usually looking to marry into extreme wealth.During the program, viewers are privy to dozens of female contenders parading in short skirts, stockings, high heels and formal dresses. The wealthy men they are flaunting their stuff for, however, are nowhere to be seen in the show.

Wealthy men who want to become part of the “selection committee” have to pay at least 200,000 yuan (US$33,000). The female contestants do not have to pay anything.

The women make it perfectly clear about what they are after. “Capable men work hard to be wealthy. But it also takes a capable woman to marry a wealthy man,” said one contestant.

“I just want to find someone to love me dearly. But of course, he should have a good income. I would rather choose to be single than marrying a poor man because life with him is going to be a drag. Nowadays, the cost of living is really high and salaries are really low,” said another.

One of the shows features a young girl just out of high school being towed around by her mother, who wishes to find her daughter a man who is professionally ambitious and responsible. She does not care (nothing is mentioned on the daughter’s part) if her daughter’s suitor already has children from a previous marriage. Her daughter can take care of any leftover offspring.

“My daughter will take the university entrance exam soon, but she will have to marry sooner or later. So I thought, why not take this chance? Maybe she will meet someone,” another mother said during the report.

A third-year senior high school girl said most people think she is too young to marry, but she does not care. “I am just giving it a try. It is not a big deal. Blind dating a wealthy man is just dating someone with money, that’s all,” she said.

It was also reported that an allegedly illegal club headquartered in Guangzhou has been attracting male members who can choose who they want to marry from the shows. But the club has allegedly run into problems with low membership, and a lack of extravagance amongst those who are accepted.

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Kee Koon Boon (“KB”) is the co-founder and director of HERO Investment Management which provides specialized fund management and investment advisory services to the ARCHEA Asia HERO Innovators Fund (www.heroinnovator.com), the only Asian SMID-cap tech-focused fund in the industry. KB is an internationally featured investor rooted in the principles of value investing for over a decade as a fund manager and analyst in the Asian capital markets who started his career at a boutique hedge fund in Singapore where he was with the firm since 2002 and was also part of the core investment committee in significantly outperforming the index in the 10-year-plus-old flagship Asian fund. He was also the portfolio manager for Asia-Pacific equities at Korea’s largest mutual fund company. Prior to setting up the H.E.R.O. Innovators Fund, KB was the Chief Investment Officer & CEO of a Singapore Registered Fund Management Company (RFMC) where he is responsible for listed Asian equity investments. KB had taught accounting at the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a faculty member and also pioneered the 15-week course on Accounting Fraud in Asia as an official module at SMU. KB remains grateful and honored to be invited by Singapore’s financial regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to present to their top management team about implementing a world’s first fact-based forward-looking fraud detection framework to bring about benefits for the capital markets in Singapore and for the public and investment community. KB also served the community in sharing his insights in writing articles about value investing and corporate governance in the media that include Business Times, Straits Times, Jakarta Post, Manual of Ideas, Investopedia, TedXWallStreet. He had also presented in top investment, banking and finance conferences in America, Italy, Sydney, Cape Town, HK, China. He has trained CEOs, entrepreneurs, CFOs, management executives in business strategy & business model innovation in Singapore, HK and China.

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