After the popularity of “King Madame Matchmaking” in Kaifeng, the National Matchmaker Competition was held at Wansui Mountain in Kaifeng. Observers believe that behind this kind of event is the Chinese Communist Party’s Civil Affairs Bureau, using such entertainment to divert people’s discontent with society. The so-called matchmaking has turned into blatant bargaining, promoting these practices as a regression of society.
According to a report from mainland China’s “Nine News” on May 2, during the May Day holiday, the National Matchmaker Competition was held at the Wuxia City on Wansui Mountain in Henan, Kaifeng. Among them, the live matchmaking segment involved randomly selecting a single person from the audience for on-the-spot persuasion by participating matchmakers.
Matchmakers from all over the country participated, with gender not limited to women. It is said that the National Matchmaker Competition will continue until October, with prizes for the top three places being 1 million yuan, 800,000 yuan, and 700,000 yuan, respectively. The high prize money has attracted participants from all over the country.
In early April this year, at the Wuxia City of Wansui Mountain in Kaifeng, a program called “Kaifeng King Madame Matchmaking” went viral online and was widely discussed by mainland Chinese media.
The actor playing the role of “King Madame” openly matched people in the audience. According to official reports, the “King Madame” is Zhao Mei, a 61-year-old, who has been playing the role of Madame for six years at Wansui Mountain. Over the past year, Zhao Mei has successfully matched 40 to 50 young couples, some of whom have even gotten married and had children. She has also created a matchmaking group, and the group with a limit of 500 people now has 12 subgroups.
However, after the incident of “married men matchmaking” occurred, Wansui Mountain Wuxia City announced that Zhao Mei, the actress playing the role of “King Madame,” would be on sick leave for a month from April 3 due to health reasons.
Following the cooling down of the “King Madame Matchmaking,” the National Matchmaker Competition was launched.
Mainland media personality Yang Ning (pseudonym) told Dajiyuan on May 3, “This is all stirred up by the Civil Affairs Bureau, mainly to help young people get into relationships and maintain stability. Most similar events are held in third to fourth-tier cities like Shijiazhuang, Baoding, and Nanchang. I remember that the Chinese Communist Party issued a document some time ago about managing young people’s marriage issues. The Communist Party also wants more population and newborns.”
Lawyer Li from mainland China commented, “The last ‘King Madame Matchmaking’ was quite popular but later got kicked out by the scenic area, and the matter cooled down. This event itself is uncivilized. The Water Margin King Madame helped Pan Jinlian commit adultery. Now it is a hit, indicating that the moral awareness of the Chinese people is worrying and bottomless.”
Li continued, “Some time ago, someone cried injustice at the Bao Gong Temple in Kaifeng, attracting a lot of attention. At the same time, the authorities were hyping up the King Madame, which is definitely meant to cover up the grassroots grievances. It entertains you and prevents you from focusing on more societal realities.”
Furthermore, he believed that the local authorities were also trying to revitalize the economy through such events but were unable to reverse the situation. “For programs like matchmakers, once the hype dies down, it’s hard to revive the interest.”
Chinese issues expert Wang He stated in an earlier interview with Dajiyuan on April 2 that China has many matchmaking websites, programs, wedding companies, and marriage agencies, and the marriage industry has been ruined by the Chinese Communist Party. China has a low birth rate, low marriage rate, and high divorce rate, leading to harsh social realities, but these matchmaking performances do not solve the problems.
American economist David Huang analyzed for Dajiyuan that in recent years, so-called matchmakers have turned into a blatant market of matching individuals as commodities, promoting these practices actually signifies a retrogression of society.