There are more than 20,000 matchmaking agencies in China. They have names like the Tianjin Municipal Trade Union Matchmakers Association and the Beijing Military and Civilian Matchmaking Service. Some of them are unscrupulous brokers who try to con women into marrying lonely rural men.

Is Sima taparia really a matchmaker?

“She wants open-minded, she wants that, this. Many of these things are not very important for a happy married life.” The show premièred in July, on Netflix, but Taparia has been a matchmaker since 2005. (Previously, she imported and arranged artificial flowers.)