Chinese men flock Russia in search for cute wives

Faced with a shortage of eligible women to marry back home, China's successful businessmen are apparently turning their attention to Russia. They are apparently paying thousands of dollars to go on 'wife tours' in Siberia, hoping to find the brides of their dreams.

Elena Suvorova, head of a marriage agency in Novosibirsk, Russia's third largest city, organised the first 'wife tour' for six Chinese bachelors last year. The event was apparently a success, with some of the men actually starting relationships with a few of the 25 girls invited to compete for their affection.

So this year, Suvorova's agency, OSD Center, held another wife tour for five Chinese men, aged 25 to 46, who came all the way from Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen, in search for a suitable life partner.

"For them, a Russian woman is like a present," Elena told local press. "Men want to get married, and are committed for serious relationships.”

She did mention that the girls had to meet some requirement in order to be selected as potential partners for the Chinese men. "All the girls who we invited are under 35 years old," the matchmaker said.

Many blame the discrepancy between men and women in China on the one-child policy, which led parents to either abandon girls or use sex-selective abortion to guarantee male children.