Ref/C581; Sex/male; Age/28; Academic Qualifications/PhD: Occupation/assistant professor at top U.S. University; Home Province/Kiangsu; Height/169cm; Weight/62k; Residence/U.S.A.; Blood Group/B; Economic Situation/good; Per sonality/strong, handsome, confident, optimistic, upright, loving, tolerant; ambitious, practical planner, romantic, sensible, insistent about big matters but not concerned with trifles. Marital Status/ single; Interests and Specialities/loves sports, nature, literature, scientific research, starting up in business. Expectations of Partner/passionate and outgoing, tender and thoughtful, optimistic and humorous, elegant, fluent Chinese and English, sports enthusiast preferred. Please write enclosing telephone number and photograph. Let our dreams come true. Unsuitable applications will be returned.

A Great Newspaper Plays Matchmaker: The usual lonely-heart placement will reveal unusual information. Observant people will already know that this overseas lonely heart is hoping to find a partner to share his life in the United States. His personality and interests seem lively and easygoing and he is obviously self-confident--it is just that his standards for a partner are so high that any woman who met them would have a host of admirers and never be looking at a lonely hearts column.

This kind of publication has always been very popular and the response shows that it obviously satisfies a market demand. There seems to be notime like the present to go in for it. An important role for Chinese people seeking a partner for life is played by the "Rose Garden" lonely hearts column of the Central Daily News. Having both domestic and overseas distribution puts it beyond the reach of competitors and many Chinese overseas say it is the only channel for them to find friendship and marriage. The column appears five times each week in both Taiwan and overseas editions.

The Square of Dreams: Since the Rose Garden began in 1989, many peoplehave questioned why the Central Daily News went into the matchmaking business. But when you know that the idea originated from Central Daily News editorial chief Shih Yung-kuei, who used to be TTV's general manager,the reason becomes clear. Having presided over a very popular matchmaking program in his television days, when he came to the newspaper he felt that the mass media should perform social services and thus designed the column.

The romantic Rose Garden is actually half a page of about thirty notices--a square full of young people's dreams. The Rose Garden's manager, Cheng Yu-lin, explains, "At present there is a membership system. Youpay US$33 to join and then you can have one notice and join in a lot of activities like dances, outings, tours, etc."

Lonely? Take a Look in the Rose Garden!: Apart from a fee that is only one fifth of the charges made by similar matchmaking companies, there are a number of other unique characteristics. "Generally speaking our members are of a much higher quality and are all of high-school and university level. We are even not short on PhDs," says Cheng Yu-lin. Apart from this, with women outnumbering men in most similar companies, the RoseGarden has 3,000 men to 5,000 women for domestic members while its overseas members number 600 men to 300 women. "The domestic and overseas market balance supply and demand," smiles Cheng Yu-lin.

Because it is the only channel of information between Taiwan and overseas about Chinese in need of a spouse, the Rose Garden gets a very big response.

Lu Huei-fang, who once studied in the United States, points out that the Rose Garden is a great source of fun for lonely heart students under pressure.

This is especially so for the men. They love to talk about it at parties, encourage each other to join and help each other to fill in the basic facts on the questionnaire. They enjoy it very much and can forget allabout their loneliness abroad and the pressure of exams. Because of this, a lot of parents who have children studying abroad use the Rose Gardento find a partner for their overseas offspring. According to Central Daily News statistics, already twenty couples have got married since 1989.

A Group of Show-offs: At present the average number of letters to the Rose Garden is about 200 per day. One in five of these comes from overseas, mainly the United States. Most of the letters are in Chinese and printed by computer. Chen I-fei, who handles the mail, says, "I do not knowif this is because they have been abroad so long that they are worried that their handwriting is not good enough or whether it is because they are so used to using computers."

The content of these advertisements is also rather different. "They are more practical and dare to say what they really want, which is a bit different from the domestic market." Chen Yu-lin says that, apart from the desired age, height and academic record, they will be quite straightforward and directly say "can come to the United States," or "must live on the East Coast." Some older people will limit themselves to women without dependents. Others point out that they want someone who either wantsor does not want children.

Apart from these practical conditions, some people will put an emphasis on personal qualities, such as liking classical music, honesty, tolerance, independence, confidence, patriotism, love for their locality, orlove of nature. This is probably closely linked to the preferences of the overseas Chinese students who read the newspaper.

Limiting Yourself Will Limit Your Partner: When defining themselves, apart from saying some good points such as that they are American civilservants, have qualifications from a top university, own a restaurant or have permanent residence, the lonely hearts will also say that they have a good brain for business, are very thoughtful and responsible and do not smoke and drink and so on. The overseas members also tend to havea wider variety of interests which are rarely heard of among the domestic participants, such as shooting, canoeing, skiing, cuisine, a love ofoutdoor activities or reading. Ch'eng Yu-lin's advice is, "Do not put too many limitations on your partner, because you will be limiting yourself too. Fortune might then pass you by."

[Picture Caption]

Some of the letters handled by the Rose Garden from overseas members are so eloquent that even the staff wants to hang on to them. (photo by Huang Lili)