Faced with a shortage of eligible women back home, China’s successful businessmen are apparently turning their attention to Russia. They are apparently paying thousands of dollars to go on ‘wife tours’ in Siberia, hoping to find the brides of their dreams.

Elena Suvorova, head of a marriage agency in Novosibirsk, Russia’s third largest city, organized the first ‘wife tour’ for six Chinese bachelors last year. The event was apparently a success, with some of the men actually starting relationships with a few of the 25 girls invited to compete for their affection. So this year, Suvorova’s agency, OSD Center, held another wife tour for five Chinese men, aged 25 to 46, who came all the way from Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen, in search for a suitable life partner.

“For them, a Russian woman is like a present,” Elena told the Siberian Times. “Men want to get married, and are committed for serious relationships.”

She did mention that the girls had to meet some requirement in order to be selected as potential partners for the Chinese men. “All the girls who we invited are under 35 years old,” the matchmaker said. “Initially men want to see brides with white skin and blue eyes – funnily enough, though, last year the girls who got into a relationship were brunettes with brown eyes.”

Suvorova described her Chinese clients as “quite successful” and praised their view of women. “Chinese men treat women with respect,” she said. “It is important for them that the woman is moderate, natural, calm, smiling, and not competing with the man.” Most people would consider those requirements sexist, but not the dozens of young girls who actually attended the event.

It’s not yet clear if any of the five businessmen actually managed to start a relationship with Russian girls, but, last year’s group did have some success. “There were six men and 25 girls. After a meeting in Novosibirsk, there were two couples. And three couples after a stopover in Krasnoyarsk,” Suvorova said.

Regarding Chinese men’s growing interest in Russian girls, the head of OSD Center said “With 120 men for every 100 women, China’s Bridget Joneses are now male, and increasingly desperate for a date.” Many blame the discrepancy between men and women in China on the one-child policy, which led parents top either abandon girls or use sex-selective abortion to guarantee male children.

Source: Siberian Times