China's booming economic hub of Shanghai held its first exclusive "love boat" party aimed at hooking up the city's millionaire men with rich attractive women, organizers and participants said.

 

The Saturday night gathering was held on the "Captain One" cruise boat with 119 male and 289 female guests paying up to 28,000 yuan (US$3,180) for the chance to find a dream partner, organizers said on their website.

 

"My aim is simple, just to find the right person, that's enough," an attractive woman in her 30s surnamed Lu told AFP before stepping on the boat.

 

"It's better to find someone who has the similar assets capability as you, it's like mountain climbing, if one is on top of the mountain while the other is at the foot, you can barely see each other, let alone shake their hands."

 

The party was organized by the matchmaking website www.915915.com.cn, which required male participants to have assets worth at least 2 million yuan (US$250,000), while women needed to be "pretty and desirable."

 

Besides a buffet dinner and cruise along the Huangpu river, participants were treated to a talent show by the gathered guests and could retire to private quarters on the boat for more intimate conversation.

 

"Finding true love is as important as my career. As long as I can find the right person, I don't care how much I will pay for that," said a divorced man surnamed Chen who was in his fifties.

 

"I don't have any particular criteria ... if this event finally turns out a failure, I will keep searching for true love."

 

A 34-year-old millionaire taking part in the event, who gave his surname as Sun, said he was hoping to find the woman of his dreams at the party.

 

"I often find pretty women on the street, but many of the women I meet in person are not the kind to win husbands," said Sun, a logistics business owner worth more than 500,000 dollars.

 

"Appearance is most important to me."

 

(CRI via agencies November 26, 2006)