Online dating is big in Beijing, with many people saying they like being able to hide behind their computers until they "get to know someone." When online dating organizations host events for members to actually meet in the flesh, most participants are painfully shy. Emcees at this Love21cn.com event had to coax many of them onstage to sing or announce their online numbers so that interested partners can later email them. As opposed to going right up to them and saying hello, of course.

Meanwhile (i.e. totally unrelated), the Wall Street Journal has an item on the founders of Google telling reporters at Davos that they think there should be more professional journalists covering world news. A reader writes back, saying Google and Yahoo should think about their China policies.