http://www.asiaone.com/Just%2BWoman/News/Women%2BIn%2BThe%2BNews/Story/A1Story20071224-42249.htmlWhite men are better
CALL it DIY hubby-hunting.
One woman from China knows exactly who she wants as a husband - a Caucasian - never mind that she doesn't speak a word of English.
And she's going about it in her own way. No more match-making agencies for her, thank you very much.
After she failed to get results through a match-making agency, Ms Zhang Xue Hong, 42, opted for a do-it-yourself (DIY) 'manhunt'.
For the past two weeks, she has been sticking up notices on lamp-posts along Taman Warna and other streets in Holland Village.
Bemused residents have been seeing - alongside the usual notices for garage sales and lost pets - her handwritten personal ad, titled 'Marriage'.
It reads, in broken English: 'Looking for a sigle (sic) white aged between 42 to 60 as a mankind (sic) partner, please contact ms zhang.'
It lists a Singapore handphone number, a China telephone number and address, and her e-mail address.
When contacted, Ms Zhang, who lives in Tianjin, said that she has been to Singapore twice in search of her elusive 'white knight'.
She revisited Singapore last month after her first attempt five months ago through a local match-making agency was unsuccessful.
She returned to China on Monday as her social visit pass was about to expire.
Ms Zhang, who does not speak English, painstakingly used an electronic dictionary to translate the words.
'I didn't write anything about myself because my English is not good, and I was scared I would write wrongly,' said Ms Zhang, who describes herself as conservative, voluptuous, and fair with long flowing hair.
Armed with some 20 copies of her flier, she headed to Holland Village two weeks ago, because she had heard there are more Caucasians there.
She said: 'I want to find a white man. I'm Chinese so this might seem impolite, but I think European or American men are of better quality.
'They are better-educated, more cultured, and have better personal upbringing.'
Ms Zhang said she has had five or six boyfriends previously, all from China, but the relationships ended as either party found the other 'unsuitable' in the end.
She said she started hearing good things about Caucasians in the past three years from friends and even her older brother, who has an American friend teaching at Peking University.
LANGUAGE IS NO BARRIER
She said she was not concerned about the language barrier.
She said: 'A lot of Chinese people find white men overseas, and most of them also can't speak English at first. If there really is chemistry, it won't be a problem. You can communicate in other ways.'
So why Singapore?
Ms Zhang said she did her research, and found it would be very difficult to go to the US or Europe due to visa and other restrictions.
So she decided on Singapore, as it has a majority Chinese population, a substantial expat community, and is a relatively safe country.
She paid more than 3,000 yuan ($600) to come here in June, on a one-week free-and-easy tour to Singapore and Malaysia.
She immediately scoured the Chinese newspapers here, and following an advertisement, went to First Overseas International Matchmaker at Katong Shopping Centre to pay $20 to register as a member.
In her application, she stated she was looking for either Europeans, Americans or outstanding Singaporean men who earn between $3,000 and $6,000 a month, live in private property, and preferably, run their own businesses.
She also wrote that she's 1.55m tall, weighs 50kg, earns 1,000 yuan a month, and loves reading, music and travel.
Ms Zhang even skipped the Malaysia leg of the tour in hopes of a match. She called the marriage agency several times after she returned home but there was no match.
Agency owner Francis Toh, 53, said given her requirements, it was very difficult to find a mate, and his employees had explained that to her when she registered with them.
He said: 'We do not guarantee a match. It's not that if you want a man who earns so much money and lives in private property, you will definitely get him by paying $20.'
Last month, Ms Zhang decided to make a second, 16,000 yuan one-month trip to Singapore.
She stayed at a budget hotel in Chinatown for a week, before moving to a friend's house in Redhill to cut costs.
So did she get any response to her fliers?
Ms Zhang said she received one phone call about a week ago.
'But it was from a withheld number, and he spoke English, so I couldn't understand him. I asked him to speak in Mandarin, but he couldn't, then he hung up,' she said.
Most residents in the neighbourhood where Ms Zhang's fliers were found were mixed in their views.
Their reactions to her ranged from 'funny' to 'desperate' to 'very bold.'
NTU lecturer Andrew Duffy, 42, who called The New Paper hotline after spotting the flier while visiting a friend, said jokingly: 'It's good marketing!'
One female resident, who declined to give her name, said she even spotted two Caucasian men taking pictures of the sign on the lamp-post one morning.
A married male Australian resident, 59, who declined to give his name, said that he would never respond to such an ad, even if he was single.
But his wife, 60, said that in their country, there are men who go overseas to find Asian women willing to live in remote areas of Australia with them - because many Australian women are unwilling to do so.
'They could have happy marriages and have children,' she said.
