When singles mingle, cash registers jingle

Online dating apps herald businesses for digital-age Chinese society's needs

Some 200 million Chinese, or 14 percent of China's population, equivalent to the entire nation of Brazil, are single, and, well, ready to mingle, representing a huge market for certain products and services such as online dating apps and matchmaking bureaus.

Call it the Singles Economy, if you will. Such a term would not be a misnomer - the market's estimated size is 4 billion yuan ($607 million) already, encompassing not just dating apps but matchmakers, wedding services, singles-oriented fashion, jewellery, gifts, love toys, so on, according to industry insiders.