On a recent Saturday night, it's pounding music and flashing strobe lights as usual at a members-only club in Lan Kwai Fong. No one is dancing, however: everyone's busy trying to strike up conversations - which isn't surprising, since this is a singles party organised by a local dating agency. The difference is that many of the participants are in their 20s.
Ellen Lo, a 25-year-old jewellery buyer, says she signed up 'just to see what it's like' but concedes 'it can be awkward when you can't find anyone nice to talk to'. She seems more comfortable chatting with two women she has just met rather than circulate among the crowd. Although she exchanges contact information with a few men, Lo reckons most are too young for her. 'They are not my cup of tea.'
Dating services used to be regarded as an avenue mainly for those in their 30s to 40s, and for the socially awkward or romantically challenged. However, perceptions are changing as thousands of young people turn to organised dating. There are now so many that agencies have begun lowering age brackets for activities such as speed dating to cater to the younger clientele, some accepting men of 24 and women as young as 20.
Attractive, outgoing and gainfully employed, many don't seem like typical candidates seeking help to widen their social circles and meet potential partners, but there's been a cultural shift.
'People from this generation are less afraid of expressing themselves and feel that if they want something, they can't sit around and do nothing. They have to make it happen,' says Petula Ho Sik-ying, an associate sociology professor at the University of Hong Kong.
For instance, of more than 16,000 people registered with 214dating.com, about 60 per cent are in their 20s. The three-year-old outfit specialises in speed dating but also brings people together through cake-baking classes, dinner parties, hill walks and fruit-picking trips.