Zhao Qinghua, founder of 2RedBeans, an dating website created for Chinese Americans, is five months pregnant. She met her husband on 2RedBeans. Provided to China Daily. When Zhao Qinghua started 2RedBeans, an online dating website for Chinese Americans in , she wanted the service to fill in the blank on the Internet dating market. Popular dating sites include Match. But 2RedBeans, said Zhao, has a special twist of matching single Chinese Americans based on cultural values and categories that they are particularly interested in.
Female users from Taiwan are the most popular and male ones from Hong Kong are the most "aggressive" to approach others, said Zhao. Data show among million singles in the US, 40 percent of them would try online dating. With a lean team of about a dozen people, 2RedBeans currently has a 15 percent market share of the 1. The top three cities where 2RedBeans has the most registered users and successful matches of those who decide to get married are Northern California, New York and Southern California, said Zhao.
Ken-Hou Lin, a sociologist at the University of Texas in Austin said his study of a mainstream website shows that when people search for a partner, they have a strong preference for those who share similar attributes.
Le, director of Asian and Asian-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, said websites like 2RedBeans offer an "easy and convenient" place to find potential mates, given the busy schedules of many. Zhao, 37, who has an engineering doctorate and is based in Cupertino, California, came to the US in for her graduate studies. Her introverted personality - similar to many Chinese - and busy schedule - as what Le pointed out - got her to try online dating before she launched 2RedBeans.
Le, the sociologist, said the power of assimilation is very strong among Americanized immigrants or the children of immigrants. Michelle Lam, a year-old public relations professional from New York, fits this pattern, but reversely. Lam, one of those busy, upbeat young professionals in the city, tried online dating for a few years, which her traditional Chinese family was skeptical about, but no Mr. Right came along. Lam decided to take a break when one summer night - about four years ago - she was taking the usual D train from Manhattan to Brooklyn from work to home, a guy sitting near her passed on an E-note.
