/ 12 October 2008

Taiwan’s ‘super matchmaker’ helps hundreds find love

A Taiwan woman is so good at matchmaking that in the past 30 years, she had helped 573 couples tie the knot, a newspaper said on Sunday.

Lee Hsiu-yen (57), in Pingtung City, south Taiwan, is a full-time fruit seller and part-time matchmaker. In the past 30 years, she has helped 573 couples tie the knot, averaging 19 couples each year, the United Daily News said.

Out of these 573 couples, only five pairs have divorced.

While most of marriage seekers come from Taiwan, she has offered to service overseas-based Taiwanese.

”Once I introduced two Taiwanese, one living in Texas and one in San Francisco, to each other by giving each the other’s email address. They began to exchange email and got married soon,” she told the paper.

Lee said that on the average, she arranges for 30 pairs of young people to meet each week; each year, an average of 16 to 20 pairs get married.

Her clients come from all walks of life. While some quickly pair up, it takes others several years to find the other half.

Lee is now nicknamed the ”Super Matchmaker” and gets five to 10 phone calls each day from parents who want their children to get married, or from young people themselves.

Many couples also bring gifts to the matchmaker when their kids are born. — Sapa-dpa