Chinese party’s youth wing hires train to get singles hitched
BEIJING: The Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) is taking its vow to play matchmaker to millions of singles in the country quite passionately. Earlier this month, it hired 10 compartments of a train from Chongqing in southwestern China to Qianjiang in Hubei province solely for 1,000 single young men and women to spend a two-day, one-night journey.
Their pre-determined destination: love or the pursuit of it. The train was appropriately named the “love pursuit train” for the particular journey. Those on the train were chosen through recommendations of other CYLC members. They mingled freely with others besides solving “love puzzles” and playing games related to relationships and friendship. The idea was for the young men and women to first know each other and then gradually fall in love, said a write-up on the Chinese media portal, Sohu.
“Since its launch three years ago, the train, on its third trip and known as the ‘Y999 Love-Pursuit Train’, has set up a platform for more than 3,000 single youths in southwest China's Sichuan province and Chongqing to make friends,” it said, adding, “so far, hundreds of people have fallen in love and nearly 10 pairs have married, thanks to the train”.
Of course, it wasn’t only play: The journey also involved celebrating 70 years (this year) of the founding of New China and “reliving” the history. CYLC’s makeover from a revolutionary movement to also a matchmaking one is not without reason: It is partly to send a message to the Chinese youth that the CYLC is not just their Communist party-appointed leader but a friend too.
A large number of singles in China will not be good for the country, is also the thinking within the Communist Party of China (CPC).
China had more than 200 million singles in 2018, and it’s actually a massive job for CYLC to find them partners.
In 2017, it had promised to do so.