Romance by numbers: Chinese girl's lonely heart advert attracts mob
Girl sought man to charm her in Cyrano de Bergerac style but instead was met by scene reminiscent of Braveheart
Hordes of potential suitors gather around Zhang Mengqian's dorm building. Photograph: Rex Features
When Zhang Mengqian announced that she was looking for a boyfriend on a"wish wall"at her university in south-westChina, she must have been hoping that she'd get a few eligible responses.
All potential suitors had to do, her message said, was complete a couple of simple tasks-turn up outside her dorm building on a certain date and time and shout her name.
Imagine her surprise then, when she looked down from her window at the appointed hour to find a scene more akin to a football crowd than the tender balcony moment from Romeo and Juliet
Her message had touched the hearts-or something-of not just a few potential suitors, but thousands.
Perhaps the enormous response was entirely predictable. TheUniversity of Electronic Science and Technologyof China in Chengdu, Sichuan province, has a male to female ratio of 25:1.
Mengqian had announced her search for love as part of the university's"girls'day". Each female student was given a blank card and asked to write their wish and place it on the wall.
Of the thousands of young men who made the effort of turning up, however, surprisingly only a few were brave enough to complete the last part of her challenge and shout out Mengqian's name.
Girl sought man to charm her in Cyrano de Bergerac style but instead was met by scene reminiscent of Braveheart
Hordes of potential suitors gather around Zhang Mengqian's dorm building. Photograph: Rex Features
When Zhang Mengqian announced that she was looking for a boyfriend on a"wish wall"at her university in south-westChina, she must have been hoping that she'd get a few eligible responses.
All potential suitors had to do, her message said, was complete a couple of simple tasks-turn up outside her dorm building on a certain date and time and shout her name.
Imagine her surprise then, when she looked down from her window at the appointed hour to find a scene more akin to a football crowd than the tender balcony moment from Romeo and Juliet
Her message had touched the hearts-or something-of not just a few potential suitors, but thousands.
Perhaps the enormous response was entirely predictable. TheUniversity of Electronic Science and Technologyof China in Chengdu, Sichuan province, has a male to female ratio of 25:1.
Mengqian had announced her search for love as part of the university's"girls'day". Each female student was given a blank card and asked to write their wish and place it on the wall.
Of the thousands of young men who made the effort of turning up, however, surprisingly only a few were brave enough to complete the last part of her challenge and shout out Mengqian's name.
