China’s blind box phenomenon still shows the pitfalls of online dating and meeting strangers on the internet
- In China’s time-poor society blind boxes are seen as an easy way to meet potential dates, but not everyone is happy with the outcome
- Offline, there are also stores and street vendors selling such boxes for as cheap as less than 16 US cents
Besides looking for a decent job, finding Mr right is the other important thing for 25-year-old Shannon Yang, who’s about to finish her postgraduate studies in Beijing.
By spending 9.9 yuan (US$1.55) on a blind box from a mini-application built into the WeChat platform, she got the contact and basic information of a guy who also wished for a blind date.
The application, called Human Romance Plans, focuses on university students in Beijing and helped with a pre-screening of candidates for her.
So far Yang has bought three, where there was information about the man’s WeChat number, height, weight, a grade for his appearance given by himself, and a brief description of his hobbies and interests., but so far none seem to have brought her any luck.
“I added them on WeChat. There was someone I enjoyed chatting with, but then he suddenly disappeared before we had the opportunity to meet each other face to face,” she said.