MCLC: save a single policeman

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: save a single policeman
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Source: The Guardian (2/24/12):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/24/chinese-police-single-officers-
girlfriends

Chinese police station helps its single male officers find girlfriends
Official website called Save a Single Policeman attracts 38,771 followers
in two weeks
By Mary Hennock in Beijing

It is one of modern China's biggest social headaches: too many men, not
enough women, and a surfeit of bachelors that some have estimated will top
30 million by the end of the decade.

But now a Chinese police station in Chengdu is taking matters into its own
hands, soliciting dates for single male officers through an official
website <http://www.weibo.com/wuhoupolice> entitled Save a Single
Policeman. The station is concerned that its young officers, many of whom
are newcomers to the Sichuan province, work long hours and have no family
locally to help them find girlfriends.

The campaign has been led by Shi Yi, deputy director of Wuhou district
police station in Chengdu, who runs the microblog website. "Police working
hours are not stable, and they don't have much free time. They don't have
time to look for a girlfriend," he told local media.

Initially, Shi has put forward five hopefuls in their mid-to-late 20s,
most of them from other provinces of China. The squad has notched up
38,771 followers in the first fortnight, though there is no information on
the gender breakdown of their admirers. Female fans have turned up at the
police station hoping to meet the officers.

The site shows glossy photos of each guy at work above a caption asking
readers to "rescue" them. All have macho microblog names, such as Ice,
Snake and Rocky Priest. Two from Wuhou's armed response unit are pictured
toting guns.

Each officer has his own Twitter-style Weibo account to chat with
admirers. What goes on there is private, says Shi.

"We don't control their personal life. How could you control their dates?
It is their choice," he said. However, should any of his men get serious,
"they should tell us once they have a girlfriend". Any marriages will be
publicised, he promises.

Clean-cut officer Wang, aka Rocky Priest, is a traffic cop who presents
himself as solid husband material, saying: "I can't change the world, but
I can change the traffic on Third Ring Road." More romantically, his
tweets hint at a broken heart: "Today is my first girlfriend's birthday.
Although she is married, and we don't contact each other, I want to send
her my best wishes. Thank you for your company during my younger years."

The 27-year-old from coastal Jiangsu province says he has been single for
a year. He confesses to missing his parents, and hopes to find "an
open-minded girl to marry". He has 10,443 followers.

Wuhou is the first public security bureau branch to launch a microblog
dating service. The attention has left Shi bashful about talking to the
media. "I did not realise this event could gain so much attention. We just
want to help them to find girlfriends," he said.

He shrugs off any fears his officers might abuse their fame. "Those five
policeman are mature, stable and responsible guys. It is not possible they
will become womanisers," he said.

"They are already so busy with work. They won't have time to go out for
many dates." If anything, he expects the avalanche of publicity to make
them "more careful about their behaviour".