Progressive icon Jin Xing hosts the first episode of "Chinese Dating." (Photo : YouTube/China DragonTV Official)
Progressive icon Jin Xing has made headlines for being China’s first openly transgender celebrity. Jin has been celebrated for her accomplishments, but now, the Internet is divided over their opinion of the celebrity, who has recently started hosting a controversial dating show.
On Christmas Eve, the first episode of “Chines Dating” aired in the country, and it created quite a stir in the online community. The show takes its cues from traditional blind dates arranged by parents, wherein a female candidate is questioned by the families of five bachelors.
Parents ask questions and determine whether the lady is a good match while the bachelors wait backstage. According to Open Democracy, the parents who appeared on the show expressed their criteria for the ideal match for their sons, with much emphasis on youth, good looks, a good career, and ideal family values.
Quartz has released a video on its official Facebook page which reveals how the show demeans its contestants. In the clip, a parent asked a lady, who happens to have one PhD and two Master’s degrees under her belt, if she knows how to do housework. Speechless, the contestant could only smile and nod her head to acknowledge the question.
The cringefest continued as a successful entrepreneur who holds two Master’s degrees was also asked if she’s open to doing any housework.
Apparently, another top criteria for being deemed marriageable by parents is if a woman is able to reproduce. In the clip, Jin asked a parent why she doesn’t approve of women with cold holds. The parent replied, “I’m a certified nutritionist. [So I know] women with cold hands have a cold womb.”
Meanwhile, women who are divorced, deemed to be too old, or have children are often met with disapproval on the show. When an attractive contestant made her way to the stage, the bachelors were visibly delighted, but they were shocked when it was revealed that she was a 40-year-old single mother.
Many people are aghast at how Jin, who has been called the Oprah Winfrey of China, seems accepting of all that has been going on in the show.
People’s Daily released an article defending “Chinese Dating,” and Jin has been quoted on saying that she approves of the show’s matchmaking aspect because “marriage is different from dating, it concerns two families.”
It appears that though Jin has become an icon of change in China, she is a traditionalist at heart when it comes to marriage. Only time will tell if “Chinese Dating” will be wholeheartedly accepted by the public, or if the call for the sexism to cease ends the show’s run.
