Every Saturday night, turn on the radio. On the program "A Distant Voice" the lucky male and female participants, who have been selected from over 80,000 letters, go through the airwaves to tell a million listeners their ideal partner. Each broadcasting channel has three programs of this type. On TV, besides "I Love the Matchmaker," which has been on for nine years, the new "Line 50," broadcast for less than two years, has expanded from 30 minutes to 70 minutes. The half-page "Rose Garden" of advertisements seeking marriage or friendship in the Central Daily News is the most interesting publication for Chinese overseas students.

This traditional "matchmaker" field, which one would have thought would have been wiped out by free choice in love and marriage, is not only alive and kicking; in the last ten years it has experienced a complete turnaround to become a hot profession. Besides the matchmaking columns and programs popular in the media, an even greater number of specialized, commercialized "modern super matchmakers" are popping up everywhere.

One Marriage, Seven Generations of Prosperity: Entering a dignified introduction service on Chunghsiao East Rd., more than ten specialized matchmakers are with one hand going through lonely hearts forms, and with the other answering the phones, which never seem to stop ringing, playing matchmaker for nearly 10,000 members in northern Taipei. At the same time, in the "friendship room" downstairs more than two hundred pairs of men and women are meeting for the "initial contact." On weekends, the number of participants often reaches 500 couples, and there are even those who meet many people in a single day.

This place is called the "Republic of China Association for the Promotion of Friendship and Marriage." Friendship and marriage club director Tang Tsuo-hwa indicates that they have thirteen affiliated locations across the province. In the five years since its establishment, more than 30,000 people have tendered their ID cards, educational degrees, and forms of personal data and their conditions for their desired partner, and paid around NT$5,000 in fees in order to become a member. The centers are responsible for a range of duties, from making dates for members to finding marriage partners. This particular center has about 200 new members every month on average, and given that Taiwan's unmarried populations gradually increasing, matchmaking looks like a sure-fire profit making venture for the future. Many people who were originally members, after sitting down and figuring it out, have started their own intermediary companies.

Yang Huei-min, director of the more than ten-year-old Yi Hsin Club, estimates that currently there are at least 20 marriage and friendship clubs in Taipei City alone. Cheng Yu-lin, who heads up the "Rose Garden" section in the Central Daily News, says that a lot of people have tried to convince her to leave the paper and start her own company.

The Consulting Company estimated that the monthly salary of a specialized matchmaker is between NT$100-120,000. Although most staff people at introduction companies say that the figure is only NT$50,000 more or less, even still, compared to other lines of work in Taiwan, that ranks right up there with the "golden rice bowl" of the banking industry. The ancients said that, "To break up a marriage will leave seven generations in poverty," but for today's intermediary companies it's, "A successful union means prosperity for seven generations." It has been listed as one of the top forty careers in the predictions of the American book, The Best Careers for the Future.

Market Expansion: Money is rolling in at these companies that match people up, the credit for which really belongs to those far-sighted entrepreneurs who broadened the "market." Besides serving the young unmarried men and women of Taiwan, there are now introductions for friendship and marriage across the Taiwan Straits, as well as transnational special columns for Chinese abroad; the age levels have been broadened to include the "second spring" of divorced or widowed persons, as well as "September romances" for the silver haired set. One friendship club, which was originally intended for young people, found after initiating their "second spring" service that although this market is not as large as that for young people, there is also little competition; moreover those who have already been married once are clearer about their goals and needs, and many can decide on a common future after meeting less than five persons. "Compared to young men and women, who might meet twenty or thirty prospective but still not be successful, arranging things is much easier," says Hsi Hsiang Feng Friendship Association general director Fang Chiu-yun.

Although different age cohorts are rather different in their mindsets for finding a partner, the overwhelming majority still feel it is less than exemplary to go to an intermediary company; they keep their lips sealed while still in contact, they insist that when the matchmakers call they cannot reveal they are a marriage and friendship company, and once things get on track they immediately cut off relations with the company-- don't even imagine that they send gifts or wedding invitations or wedding cakes to share the joy. Today the matchmaker has nothing like the prestigious place she was accorded in former times.

Risky Business?: When their work day is done, two young ladies meander about outside a marriage and friendship club; probably they feel some hesitation. While commercial intermediaries might help some men and women find mates, bringing together the sexes is not the same as any ordinary commercial buying and selling. If you go to the wrong matchmaker, you might merely be afraid you won't meet the perfect mate, but you may end up losing your money and something of yourself. Several established clubs revealed that members have told them that some clubs have, due to a lack of members, hired a few people with good credentials to serve as "bait" to attract clients; some just disappear after collecting some membership fees; some even have spots for introductions for sex, or have dishonest members claiming to be single who are only playing games, making the whole market jittery.

When you open the newspaper to the classified ads, and see those marriage or friendship ads which seem to offer a window to good fortune, make sure you look carefully before you push it open!"

[Picture Caption]

Building bridges for busy contemporary men and women, commercial modern matchmakers have realized countless unions. (photo by Huang Lili)

Matchmaking agent: "Place your bets . . . ." [More literally; Put down your money] (Chi Ching, Min Sheng Daily News, 10/18)

Matchmaking agent: "Place your bets . . . ." [More literally; Put down your money] （Chi Ching, Min Sheng Daily News, 10／18）