The lonely Chinese men being conned by fake brides

Wang Zhuang, aged 37, had lost all hope of finding a wife until he came across glossy matchmaking advertisements. These promises claimed that he would not have to endure the years of a relationship with no future. The matchmakers assured him that women from Guizhou were frugal, adept at managing households, efficient at housework, and that their families were impoverished.

To them, such women would settle down and live a life together. Wang travelled to Guiyang, a city in Guizhou province, hoping to find his soulmate. He believed he had found her after they matched. After only a few meetings, they got married. However, the relationship did not last long. Almost as swiftly as their marriage began, it ended.

Wang revealed that his family has been thrown into chaos, and he is still recovering more than a year later. He discovered that his wife was a former karaoke hostess who had been married three times, had three children, a severe sexually transmitted disease, and was deeply in debt. She had also lied about her age. Wang is now fighting for a divorce and cannot return home until he can recover his life savings, which he says he paid to the agency within hours of meeting several potential matches.