by Kevin Burton
Ever been on a date that just…wouldn’t…end? Here’s a story of one such date being reported around the world this week.
And you can blame this one equally on the virus and one woman’s biological clock.
A 34-year-old Chinese woman was forced to quarantine with her blind date for at least four days because of strict local Covid-related travel bans, according to multiple sources.
The woman’s last name is Wang, her first name and the name of her blind date are not given in any of the accounts I have seen.
Wang was visiting Zhengzhou City in Henan Province when the local government began enforcing a lockdown in the wake of a sharp increase in Covid cases. She told Shanghai-based outlet The Paper, that she was staying in the city on a week-long trip after her family matched her with 10 potential suitors.
“I’m getting old now, my family introduced me to ten matches… The fifth date wanted to show off his cooking skills and invited me over to his house for dinner,” Wang said.
Wang arrived at her blind date’s home on Sunday just before his residential area was suddenly placed under a lockdown due to a COVID-19 outbreak, Global Times reported.
Her blind-date match was not made in heaven, by her accounts.
“I have spent four days with him, living with him and his family,” Wang told Shijian News on Monday. She told The Paper that aside from “the fact that he’s as mute as a wooden mannequin, everything else (about him) is pretty good. Despite his food being mediocre, he’s still willing to cook, which I think is great. The guy is all right. He cooks, cleans, and works.”
Talk about faint praise.
Wang supposedly described her unexpected extended stay as “embarrassing,” but she nevertheless reported her experience in a series of posts on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok. In the clips she can be seen documenting the meals he has been preparing for her, according to a South African website.
The Guardian called Wang “an overnight sensation” because of her posts. But that made her date a sensation too, and not in a good way.
Wang said she deleted the posts after they gained much online attention. “Friends have been calling him and I think this has definitely affected his life, so I have taken them down for now,” Wang said.
“Thanks everyone for your attention… I hope the outbreak ends soon and that my single sisters also find a relationship soon,” Wang said on one of the videos.
This whole thing sounds contrived to me. It could be true. But I would not be shocked to find out this was a hoax, especially since one report said the blind date is interested in writing a book about the experience.
“While this might sound like the setup to a rom-com, it sounds like their love may not last after all,” wrote Thom Dunn on http://www.boingboing.net. “Wang posted several videos on the Chinese social network Weibo, detailing the endless blind date, and said that although her date has been considerate enough to continue cooking meals for her, he’s not a great cook, and he’s not very talkative, either. Otherwise, at least the two get along for now.”
Whether the tale is 100 percent true or not, it does contain the seed of a C-plus to D-minus range movie. If staged, it would give the younger generations something to write about, instead of endlessly re-doing stories done in the 1970s and 1980s.
If you don’t find compelling the story that has unfolded so far, keep in mind Mannequin Man was only blind date number five for Wang. There are five more stories to be told, five more chances for true love or at least a decent meal.
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