Single men and women shake hands at the start of the blind dating gala on October 19, 2008 in Shanghai Luwan Stadium. [People's Daily]

Some 3,000 white-collar employees enjoyed a unique large-scale blind dating gala on October 19 at Shanghai's Luwan Stadium in a bid to find their better halves, People's Daily Online reported.

Organized by Shanghai's Match-Making Organization Administration Association, it was the first ever group match-making activity held in Shanghai.

People who attended the dates were all 18 to 45 year old single white-collars, either from government offices or international ventures. The make up of the crowd was 40 percent male and 60 percent female. No parents were invited to the more or less embarrassing occasion.

The way this big crowd gathered was that both females and males were lined up, with males shaking hands with ladies while they were walking past their female counterparts, a bit like reviewing the guard of honor. The time the men walk along, they may pass their code number and their personal information cards onto a lady they may fall in love with at their first glance. The lady can exchange her cards with them or just simply leave her own cards for others she may be crazy about.

Each participant held a code number card and ten personal information card copies. Each man or lady can hand out his or her own cards for ten other counterparts.

Statistics reveal that a total of over 1 million people were still single in Beijing and Shanghai by the end of 2006. But the number for the two cities was only 10,000 in 1990. Blind dating and cyber match-making have become new ways for these to find their Mr. or Mrs. Right.

(CRI October 21, 2008)