Millionaire seeking wife in Shanghai
(Shenzhen Daily)
Updated: 2005-11-25 13:44

An advertisement soliciting a wife for a Shenzhen millionaire has aroused much curiosity and controversy throughout China after it was published in Shanghai's Xinmin Evening News Wednesday.

The full-page advertisement described the businessman from Shenzhen as being "1.77 meters high, nearly 40 years of age, and having an annual income of at least 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million)."

The millionaire was once a teacher in a university in China before he ventured into business, according to the advertisement. He has had an unsuccessful marriage and is now living in Shenzhen with his 9-year-old son, it said.

The man is looking for a wife aged around 26, who should be above 1.65 meters in height, "as beautiful and pure as a lotus flower, fair-skinned and slim," and mild-mannered.

The would-be sweetheart should also possess traditional Chinese virtues and stay at home after marriage. The ideal candidate would be a teacher, a doctor, or a college student, the advertisement said.

Anyone helping the millionaire find his future wife will be awarded a trip abroad, according to the advertisement.

More than 5,000 copies of the newspaper were circulated in Shanghai universities, a report in Shanghai's Oriental Morning Post said Wednesday.

According to the Xinmin Evening News, the full-page advertisement cost 210,000 yuan.

The millionaire's lawyer in Shenzhen refused to divulge any details about his client, while insisting that the information in the advertisement was genuine. "We don't want to make a fuss out of nothing," the lawyer said.