Those damn Chinese dating shows - Part 2

The format of the dating show Fei Cheng Wu Rao has evolved over the years. The current format of the show is pretty cheesy, but the original version was even more unpalatable. So much so that it brought upon itself the ire of the Communist party, mandating that the format of the show be changed.

In the original version there was a much greater emphasis on the material wealth of the male contestants who came on the show. Why during the introduction video of every contestant the details of their monthly income would flash up on the screen. Accordingly, many of the male contestants would fill their intro videos of shots of them posing in front of their expensive cars or other flashy assets. After government intervention, gone is the emphasis on material wealth, though it's a sure bet that it still plays in the back of the minds of the female contestants. At the very least, the occupation of each guy is still detailed.

One particulary infamous incident attracted a lot of public criticism. Ma Nuo, one of the more  prominent girls on the show, used to proudly proclaim herself as a money worshiper. During one episode she flatly rejected a guy who wasn't rich enough with the now infamous line: ''I would rather cry in the back of a BMW than sit happily on the back of your bicycle.''




Apparently she copped a lot of criticism on chinese social media websites and talkshows after that, and she scrambled to make up all sorts of excuses to explain her words had been taken out of context. Not that anyone believed her though, since she had a reputation of being cruel, mocking and condescending of any guy who didn't tick her many, many boxes. Since leaving the show she's gone on to do some modelling (most of her work comprising of shoots for FHM-like men's magazines), singing and acting.

In fact, the tone of many of the other girls was also quite mocking and disrespectful of many of the male contestants who weren't made of  prince-charming material. One episode comes to mind when a 31 year old guy who dressed a bit too formally was laughed at and called 'uncle' by most of the girls. All this, coupled with a healthy serving of sexual inuendo quickly attracted the attention of the Communist party, who told the producers to shape-up, or ship-out the show. The party were none too happy with the messages it was sending out to all the viewers.

So in the revamped version gone is any details of income, focus on materialism, or disrespect for the male contestants. And just for good measure, the Communist Party also installed their own psychologist, Huang Han, to join the other relationship expert, Le Jia already on the show. I guess she's there to prevent discussions from heading in the wrong direction and keep everyone in check.

So there are three regular figures on the dating show. The host Meng Fei, and the two relationship experts Le Jia and Huang Han. I don't know why but Meng Fei and Le Jia, who are both guys, always keep their heads shaved. My theory is the bold heads are supposed to symbolize the eunuchs, since they don't take part in the show or court the women.

Once in a while they will have these special episodes where they bring a whole bunch of Chinese ex-nationals, who now work or study abroad, on to the show. Needless to say, the strike rate for these guys seems to be a bit higher than their counterparts who remain in China. I wonder why....

Once in a while they'll also have westerners on the show, and again the strike rate for them seems to be higher than the local guys. Whenever I see a foreign guy on the show they always seem to be a designer of some sort. Perhaps the producers have a template for foreign guys they want on the show? Anyway, most of the guys seem to fit a certain type of character profile. I can't quite describe it, you'd have to watch a few episodes with foreign contestants to get an idea. Most of them seem genuine though, but mind you there are some pretty shady characters on there too.

Finally, I'm loathe to say that the idea for this show was actually taken from the original Australian tv show "Take me out''. I believe it only lasted a season or two a few years back, and even then i don't know how such shite lasted that long. As the title suggests, the show was more about finding a date, rather than finding a partner for the long term. It seemed that all the female contestants were recruited from nightclubs, and every male contestant who came on the show seemed to be a part-time model. The funny thing was, a lot of the contestants seemed to know each other, or had a friend who used to date someone else, so the producers must've recruited all of them from the one night spot.  They also had special episodes where the roles were reversed and all the guys were behind the podiums, though on these episodes it seemed every guy couldn't get a date if their lives depended on it.

Those damn Chinese dating shows - Part 1

Chinese people have a fascination with other people's dating and love lives. It's a topic that often comes up in conversation, even with practical strangers you've only just met. Two weeks ago I had my first classes this semester with my new english classes, and all eight classes asked me if I had a girlfriend when i allowed them to ask questions of me. (they also all asked for my opinion about the diaoyu / senkaku island dispute, but we'll leave that for another blog!) Perhaps if i was a woman they wouldn't be so bold to ask. Not that it bothers me though since I've become used to getting this question.

Match-making your friends seems to be a regular past time here in China, moreso than the West. When you think about it, going out to bars and clubs is not as common here (not that I think theres a very good strike rate there), and it seems that people who work together don't have as many opportunities to socialize vs their western counterparts. This might sound offensive when said, but I get the impression that Chinese people are a lot more guarded and weary of each other, especially towards people they don't know well. God only knows theres a lot of dishonest people out there. Add to that the fact that chinese people can be very opaque, and you can understand why a friend's word can be vital in finding a potential love interest.

So that brings us to the topic of this blog - TV dating shows. They are a HUGE hit in China, and it seems every province has their own spin on it. One of the most famous ones in all of China is produced locally here in Nanjing, Fei Cheng Wu Rao 非诚勿扰, which translates as ''not sincere, don't disturb'', or ''if you're not sincere, don't bother.''


 
   
Each episode  5 male contestants come onto the show, one at a time, and each is presented to the twenty-four recurring girls who stand up behind their podiums. All the players seem to range in age from mid twenties to as old as late 30's, but the majority seem to be in their late twenties to early thirties.
At any time the girls can press their buzzers to opt out if they feel the guy is not ideal for them, but once that buzzer is pressed they can't opt back in. So as soon as the guys come out and just gives his name and age, the girls can start opting out already! (Usually when this happens it will be because the girl has a set age or height in mind for their ideal man). After the male contestant has given his name and age he selects and indicates the girl he finds most attractive on a little hand held machine. The selection is known to the viewing audience but not to the girls themselves.

A series of  self-prepared videos are then airred  to get to know the male contestants, such as brief introduction, friend's impressions, past love life history, and ideal partner qualities. In between videos the girls are asking the contestant questions or making comments, while the host is also asking girls why they opted out. Most of the questioning is civil, but let me tell you some of the girls absolutely rip into the guy or denigrate him if they think theres something wrong with him. Even the host and resident ''relationship experts'' will have a dig at him if he's clearly not in-step with what a good man is expected of in Chinese society. Personally this is one of the things that turns me off the show, seeing some of these so called ''beauties'' with cakes of makeup on their faces holding themselves up on a pedestal. I really feel sorry for some of these guys who it seems receive more of a lecture on national television rather than take part in the show. It's like the producers purposely let these guys come on just to make an example of them and turn the show into some public education announcement.

If the guy has some sort of special talent, they're always given a chance to showcase their skills e.g massage one of the girls, do a dance, sing, whatever. This can take a sizeable amount of time, and sometimes you wonder if you're watching a variety concert or a game show.  







By the end of all the video segments and questioning if there are any girls who are still interested the guy can only choose two girls he likes, as well as the girl he originally selected at the beginning of the show (purely based on appearances). Even if his chosen girl opted out she is called out in the ''final 3 lineup''. You'd think that with 24 girls it's easy to get to this stage, but most of the guys fail to have a single girls still interested, and if there are girls still interested its usually only a handful. The girls come back on the show each week, so I guess they can be choosey!

 So up to this point the girls have had the decision, but after this the guy has the power to reject or not. From a list of questions that all the girls have already answered, he chooses one and their respones are shown on a screen. Finally he gets to ask an additional question of his choosing, and each girl has to answer on the spot. Taking the responses into consideration he chooses his girl. If he chooses one of the girls who never opted out, they walk away together, but if he chooses his original choice he makes one last plea to her to reconsider (usually this ends in failure). It's pretty rare for the original choice not to have opted out, but if this happens it's an instant match-make.





 
Like a lot of Chinese TV shows, this one is really overcooked. The dramatized responses and over-pleasant pleasantries by contestants, cheesy video's, down to the soppy music played in the background can really make your eyes roll unless you're a 15 year old teenage girl. It's supposed to be a ''reality'' show, but just like most western ''reality'' shows they're set in another universe unfamiliar to our daily lives. When asked, all of my Chinese uni students don't believe it's real either, and only watch it for a laugh.









One particular episode comes to mind where a perfect match was achieved (i.e. the guy's original choice of girl ended up being one of the many who still hadn't opted out). When watching the whole segment play out it seemed like you were watching something out of a hollywood script. The girl was beautiful, sweet, kind-hearted,, while the guy also seemed to be absolutely flawless, good looking, and was, wait for it........ a white whale trainer at a Seaworld-like theme park (his introuction video had him frolicking with his white whale awwwww). The question and answer sessions went like clockwork, with the guy having a good answer for every question. By the end of it there was a hoard of girls still opting in, including his original choice. Now unless almighty God is the producer and director of this show, I have to say this seemed a little staged.

 Theres a lot more to talk about this show, including the original format of the show which caused so much controversy and brought upon itself the ire of the Communist Party, special episodes for foreign chinese nationals, foreign contestants, the hosts, and it's special Australian connection, all of which i'll talk about in the next blog.