{"id":19427,"date":"2021-11-09T11:14:36","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T03:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/?p=19427"},"modified":"2021-11-16T11:26:16","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T03:26:16","slug":"what-else-is-in-a-blind-box-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/2021\/11\/what-else-is-in-a-blind-box-love\/","title":{"rendered":"What Else is in a Blind Box? \u201cLove\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Young people in China have come up with a way of exchanging contacts through blind boxes to meet new friends.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Ryan Li<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steven Zhang*, a 25-year-old bachelor in Guangzhou, China, joined Blind Box for Love on September 13, 2021, wishing to find a lover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He received two friend requests through WeChat, an instant chat application in China, after leaving his contact in a blind box that cost him RMB \u00a52 (US $0.31). He had chats with his new friends, exchanging basic information such as age and hobbies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have very long working hours and have no time to make new friends,\u201d says Zhang who works in the construction industry. He thinks that Blind Box for Love provides a new way to start a romantic relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zhang has already participated in several different blind box activities since September 10, 2021. He has added contacts of 10 girls to his WeChat friend list so far. They have short and simple conversations most of the time due to \u201clack of common topics\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside the Blind Box<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blind Boxes operate like toys packed in boxes with the same appearances and sold by vending machines or in stores. In Blind Box for Love activities, or Tuodanmanghe (\u812b\u55ae\u76f2\u76d2) in Chinese, buyers pay for a blind box containing a note with contact information of a stranger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A participant can leave his or her WeChat account on a note in a paper-made blind box or take a note left by others. No further information other than gender is required. Each box costs RMB \u00a51-2 (US $0.16-0.31). Then participants can make use of contact information inside blind boxes to start a conversation through WeChat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Posts about Blind Box for Love on RED, a social media platform in China where users share their life experience.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Katrina Pan*, who is a 19-year-old university student in Nanyang, Guangdong province, left two notes with her contact in a blind box activity on September 1, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to see what kind of people I would meet by luck, out of curiosity. But it largely depends on what the participants are like,\u201d Pan says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blind Box for Love has two categories with one for heterosexual lovers and another for homosexual group. As a member of LGBTQ+ community, Pan was contacted by two girls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I wanted to see what kind of people I would meet by luck.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

However, she only chatted once with them upon adding on WeChat, with no further interactions. Pan is disappointed and thinks that she will not try the blind box again. “There are too many uncertainties,” she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unexpected Popularity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the Blind Box for Love activities that Zhang and Pan joined was held by Huang Shiwen, who operates a blind box stall and prepares blind boxes for participants together with her two friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Huang Shiwen and her friends\u2019 blind box stall in Guangzhou, which involves 100 to 150 participants per day on average.
(Photo courtesy of Huang Shiwen)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Huang, a 20-year-old student majoring in economics at the University of Washington in the U.S., has been staying at home in Guangzhou for online study because of the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She spotted the trend of Blind Box for Love activities on RED, a Chinese social media platform where users share their life experience, on August 24, 2021. She was inspired by the idea so she started her own stall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have multiple channels to meet friends nowadays, but the blind box seems purer to me compared to online dating applications. No extra information needed. It is all about luck,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We have multiple channels to meet friends nowadays, but the blind box seems purer to me compared to online dating applications.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Three days after coming up with the idea of setting up a stall, Huang and her friends stood by the street of Jiangnanxi, a business district in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huang makes about RMB \u00a5250 (US $38.78) a day in total, involving 100 to 150 participants per day on average. \u201cWe didn\u2019t expect so many people would be interested. From 8:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. every day, none of us have taken a rest,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Huang Shiwen (middle) and her friends standing behind their blind box stall.
(Photo courtesy of Huang Shiwen)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Huang and her friends also initiated an online version. People leave their contacts to Huang through private messages on RED, and Huang then writes a note for each of them and drops it into a blind box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Huang\u2019s observation, most of the participants are female college students, while male participants are at the age of 25 on average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huang thinks some of the participants do have the expectation of finding partners through blind boxes. \u201cEveryone understands that the chance is rare,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s still good to have one more friend for your contact lists and gives likes to your posts on WeChat even relationship does not work out,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A New Option<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chan Lik Sam, associate professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, believes that young people\u2019s desire of meeting new people and the \u201cluck by chance\u201d principle of the game are the two factors that make Blind Box for Love popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYoung people do have the desire to make their peer circle bigger, which has motivated the development of dating technology,\u201d says Chan, who researches online dating applications and interpersonal communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile dating technology is visually driven, the blind box\u2019s rule is designed to have WeChat ID as the only information, thus resulting in participants\u2019 lower level of purposefulness,\u201d Chan adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The blind box’s rule is designed to have WeChat ID as the only information, thus resulting in participants’ lower level of purposefulness.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In one of his research papers published in 2020, Chan looked into multiple uses of Momo, a Chinese dating application. He suggested that informants demonstrated dislike towards strong \u201cmudixing\u201d<\/em> (\u76ee\u7684\u6027, purposefulness) when using dating apps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chan also holds the view that young people in China seem to be unwilling to date \u201cin any form\u201d, which also contributes to the popularity of Blind Box for Love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Names changed at interviewees\u2019 request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edited by Lynne Rao<\/em>
Sub-edited by Vivian Cao<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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