Would you sign up for a dating app created by the government?

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The government is also getting in on the act. In a social media post from May 2017, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League (CYL) confirmed that it would start playing cupid to China's young and loveless. In defending the need for greater state intervention in young people’s lives — and love lives — the State Council, China’s cabinet, pointed to the mounting pressures faced by China’s young generation, both in the workplace and at home, and said the government should find a way to help. In the time since, Communist Youth League branches all across the country have swung into action to save young Chinese from the curse of perpetual singledom. Last June, the provincial CYL branch of the eastern province of Zhejiang went so far as to establish a “Marriage and Dating Division” specifically tasked with helping young people find love.

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Through this division, the CYL established Qin Qing Lian — an online dating platform that, as of this July, claimed to have found more than 13,000 people willing to entrust their love lives to the CYL. Qin Qing Lian's front page helpfully shows users’ screen names, photos, locations, and height. According to division staff, the website “has a rigorous vetting program, so young people can use it without needing to worry about problems like scams or fake marriages.” Though there are no political requirements, key to this vetting program is the requirement that registrants contact their local CYL branch and personally ask for an invite code. Whether young Chinese will find asking a CYL official for dating help any more or less awkward than going to a friend or family member remains to be seen.

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