One interesting thing is Beijing is the classifieds section at http://thatsbj.com , where you can find a job, buy or sell something, or do the typical personals thing. Today I saw this ad:
White boy looving [sic] for punky girl with dragon tattoo. Want to sit around playing Xbox and listen to heavy metal music with me?
I can never figure out if these ads are entirely serious. This one sounds real, but also very weird and way too specific:
Hey we are 4 Chinese girls enjoying our life in the city, but sometimes we get bored. So we are thinking of making new friends. Here is the idea: we set up a dinner party with four guys, drinking a little bit, eating nice food, talking (no politics please), and if we have a good time, we go dancing…There might be other stories after that, you never know…It sounds like a good idea but now we need these four guys. So any cute guy in the town interested in this please write back with a picture (and you will get ours). We are looking forward to hearing from you
Most of the ads sound something like this:
Hi, this is Jessie, a young lady in BJ.
I’d like to make friends with foreigners from English speaking country.
I’m interested in learning English, your culture and literature. Of
course, I’m glad to help you with Chinese.
If you are interested, please write back or send emails to jessieyang7476 at hotmail dot com(also MSN account).
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Or this:
I am invited to an Embassy Ball at the Kempinski around the end of
November. I will share a nice table with some officials from the
embassy - but I have no beautiful woman on my side.
What is a handsome man, without a beautiful person on his side anyway?
I am a tall, fit european guy, and I would like to take a beautiful and
charming nice girl/woman with me. Age around 25 to 35, preferrably
beautiful, charming and a bit tall; and you should not be afraid of
some local european food - some of these things, I haven’t even tried…
It will be a little bit formal, but be informed, that I am a terrible
dancer. I am not ugly and i can certainly entertain you for the
evening. And of course, you will be invited. If you have a pic, I will
send mine in return.
Or strangely worded requests (but with obvious consequences), like this:
I am looking for an intelligent, attractive Chinese girl to help me with some translation and interpretation and to accompany me to some social events, possibly to travel with me to the provinces for business meetings. A curious mind and sweet disposition are important - I want to enjoy your company. Please help me learn more about your country. Email replies welcome at xxxx@xxxx.com.
Or the more direct approach:
Good-looking, fit (work out regularly), in his early’s, Caucasian, well-educated, secure, ambidextrous man looking for open minded couples/groups for adult encounters
And:
Hi we are two straight handsome western guys in mid to early twenties.
We are looking for any open minded chinese girls to hang out with and have fun with at the same time.
And, finally, the truly bizarre, and, I suppose, the one I’m most hopeful for. This man has travelled from India to China to teach the right Chinese girl the Spanish guitar (apparently an extremely heavy one), and I hope he finds her:
Hello and namaste, I am an Indian male, currently working in Beijing. I am interested in teaching a chinese girl (19 - 25 years of age) english / hindi (the native language of India), finance or the spanish guitar, in return for some Chinese. I am living in the Sihui Dong area. So if you live in the Sihui / Sihui Dong / Gaobeidian areas, it would be extremely convenient. However, if you want to learn the guitar, you will have to come to my apartment, as it will not be possible for me to carry my guitar. Don’t miss this opprtunity Do get in touch soon.