CRI听力:Get Trained to Marry a Billionaire?

Do wives of rich people require special qualities? Can training help in finding an ideal spouse? An education center in Beijing boasts to provide courses of enhancing women's personal qualities so as to marry rich men. The very idea of opening such courses has caused quite a bit of controversy. Zhang Mengyuan has the details.

Under the slogan of "How to marry a billionaire", the Beijing Moral Education Center for Women has attracted more than 2,800 women since it opened in last August.

23-year-old Zhou Yue, a student in the center, talks about how she got the idea of marrying a rich person.

"My family is doing business and used to have a very hard time when I was young. During that period, I was struggling a lot inside, asking myself why my childhood was different from others'. So I thought if I could marry a rich man, at least I won't have any worries in living."

The education center provides various courses, such as art of make-up, skills to decipher a man's character and personality, self-identification, and also traditional tea ceremony. Shao Tong, the founder of the center and also a teacher there, introduces why they choose such a straightforward catchphrase.

"We are nurturing women's internal qualities and developing their potential. But if we were to advertise the school saying we would like to teach you how to build a good family and to better yourself, lots of girls would rule it out because they may feel that they are qualified enough. So then I thought, why not be more straightforward by saying, do you want to marry a rich man?"

Fees starting from 300 yuan, or 46 USD, for an hour of training is actually not agreeable to many working class women. Some wealthy and eligible bachelors have also approached the school and were introduced with potential partners at a very high service fee. 32-year-old Wen Wen is one of them.

"By taking the classes at this school, women can raise their personal qualities, and perhaps will be more suitable for the expectations of men like us who are looking for a girlfriend or a companion. Divorce rates are extremely high now, it is probably because when two people meet they don't always truly understand each other."

Some of the students in the school express that through taking classes there, they hope to meet people with higher standards and better careers.

But experts hold different opinions towards this kind of schools. Xia Xueluan, professor in Sociology from Peking University, explains.

"There is a phenomenon in the society that many women want to marry rich men. But as an educational organization, it should provide correct and appropriate moral guiding, but not using 'how to marry a billionaire' to attract students. If the organization is providing such kind of service, it should be named a matchmaking agency, but not a school."

Women in different cities hearing about the school are expressing their opinions.

"If the training can really enhance one's personal quality, it is good. But I don't think one can see an obvious improvement just through taking several classes."

"I think some people may achieve their goals and meet some rich men in the occasions provided by the school. But the rate should be very low. I think most people are just blindly taking chances wishing to change their current situation."

"The phenomenon that many girls want to marry rich men has existed for a long time. But I think money cannot buy real happiness. For this kind of school, it's good to provide classes of improving women's potentials, but under the goal of choosing spouses, it goes against the essence of love and becomes a matchmaking agency."

Bearing various comments, the school says they have successfully matched 30 couples that resulted in marriage. It is hard to judge whether the classes can indeed help women get their ideal marriage life. But the service does provide some more possibilities.

For CRI, I'm Zhang Mengyuan.