Tweet couples

The nation's 'leftovers', or singles, are making all the right connections on the web. Liu Zhihua reports.

Marriages today, it seems, are made not in heaven but in cyberspace. The nation's micro-blogging services are fast becoming the latest recourse of shengnan, literally "leftover man", or bachelors. And they are taking to it with great gusto. Take "Ke You Suo An", a netizen who has been waiting anxiously for responses to his post since Valentine's Day. The 28-year-old, who works for a design institute in Beijing, hopes he will find true love online.

Freed of the embarrassments of blind dating and match-making rendezvous organized by family elders, he had no hesitation uploading his photos and a brief write-up to a micro blog on Sina.com.