http://www.asiaone.com/Just%2BWoman/News/Women%2BIn%2BThe%2BNews/Story/A1Story20071224-42249.html
White men are better
CALL it DIY hubby-hunting.
One woman from China knows exactly who she wants as a husband - a
Caucasian - never mind that she doesn't speak a word of
English.
And she's going about it in her own way. No more match-making
agencies for her, thank you very much.
After she failed to get results through a match-making agency, Ms
Zhang Xue Hong, 42, opted for a do-it-yourself (DIY)
'manhunt'.
For the past two weeks, she has been sticking up notices on
lamp-posts along Taman Warna and other streets in Holland
Village.
Bemused residents have been seeing - alongside the usual notices
for garage sales and lost pets - her handwritten personal ad,
titled 'Marriage'.
It reads, in broken English: 'Looking for a sigle (sic) white aged
between 42 to 60 as a mankind (sic) partner, please contact ms
zhang.'
It lists a Singapore handphone number, a China telephone number and
address, and her e-mail address.
When contacted, Ms Zhang, who lives in Tianjin, said that she has
been to Singapore twice in search of her elusive 'white
knight'.
She revisited Singapore last month after her first attempt five
months ago through a local match-making agency was
unsuccessful.
She returned to China on Monday as her social visit pass was about
to expire.
Ms Zhang, who does not speak English, painstakingly used an
electronic dictionary to translate the words.
'I didn't write anything about myself because my English is not
good, and I was scared I would write wrongly,' said Ms Zhang, who
describes herself as conservative, voluptuous, and fair with long
flowing hair.
Armed with some 20 copies of her flier, she headed to Holland
Village two weeks ago, because she had heard there are more
Caucasians there.
She said: 'I want to find a white man. I'm Chinese so this might
seem impolite, but I think European or American men are of better
quality.
'They are better-educated, more cultured, and have better personal
upbringing.'
Ms Zhang said she has had five or six boyfriends previously, all
from China, but the relationships ended as either party found the
other 'unsuitable' in the end.
She said she started hearing good things about Caucasians in the
past three years from friends and even her older brother, who has
an American friend teaching at Peking University.
LANGUAGE IS NO BARRIER
She said she was not concerned about the language barrier.
She said: 'A lot of Chinese people find white men overseas, and
most of them also can't speak English at first. If there really is
chemistry, it won't be a problem. You can communicate in other
ways.'
So why Singapore?
Ms Zhang said she did her research, and found it would be very
difficult to go to the US or Europe due to visa and other
restrictions.
So she decided on Singapore, as it has a majority Chinese
population, a substantial expat community, and is a relatively safe
country.
She paid more than 3,000 yuan ($600) to come here in June, on a
one-week free-and-easy tour to Singapore and Malaysia.
She immediately scoured the Chinese newspapers here, and following
an advertisement, went to First Overseas International Matchmaker
at Katong Shopping Centre to pay $20 to register as a member.
In her application, she stated she was looking for either
Europeans, Americans or outstanding Singaporean men who earn
between $3,000 and $6,000 a month, live in private property, and
preferably, run their own businesses.
She also wrote that she's 1.55m tall, weighs 50kg, earns 1,000 yuan
a month, and loves reading, music and travel.
Ms Zhang even skipped the Malaysia leg of the tour in hopes of a
match. She called the marriage agency several times after she
returned home but there was no match.
Agency owner Francis Toh, 53, said given her requirements, it was
very difficult to find a mate, and his employees had explained that
to her when she registered with them.
He said: 'We do not guarantee a match. It's not that if you want a
man who earns so much money and lives in private property, you will
definitely get him by paying $20.'
Last month, Ms Zhang decided to make a second, 16,000 yuan
one-month trip to Singapore.
She stayed at a budget hotel in Chinatown for a week, before moving
to a friend's house in Redhill to cut costs.
So did she get any response to her fliers?
Ms Zhang said she received one phone call about a week ago.
'But it was from a withheld number, and he spoke English, so I
couldn't understand him. I asked him to speak in Mandarin, but he
couldn't, then he hung up,' she said.
Most residents in the neighbourhood where Ms Zhang's fliers were
found were mixed in their views.
Their reactions to her ranged from 'funny' to 'desperate' to 'very
bold.'
NTU lecturer Andrew Duffy, 42, who called The New Paper hotline
after spotting the flier while visiting a friend, said jokingly:
'It's good marketing!'
One female resident, who declined to give her name, said she even
spotted two Caucasian men taking pictures of the sign on the
lamp-post one morning.
A married male Australian resident, 59, who declined to give his
name, said that he would never respond to such an ad, even if he
was single.
But his wife, 60, said that in their country, there are men who go
overseas to find Asian women willing to live in remote areas of
Australia with them - because many Australian women are unwilling
to do so.
'They could have happy marriages and have children,' she said.
