On Valentine’s Day, Tian Huimin is marrying the man she met when she logged on to the company’s singles chatroom to ask if anyone could give her a lift home. He volunteered and the rest was “fate”, she says.

情人节那天，田慧敏（音）举行了婚礼；当初她之所以遇上新郎，是因为有一天她登录公司的单身族聊天室，问有谁能够让她搭车回家。她说，他自告奋勇，余下的事都是“缘分”。

That is, fate plus Baidu, the Chinese tech giant that, like many other companies in Beijing, sponsors dating events and singles clubs to keep its young workforce¹ happy and loyal.

其实她的意思是缘分加上百度(Baidu)。与北京其它许多公司一样，这家中国科技巨擘赞助约会活动和单身俱乐部，保持其年轻的员工队伍快乐和忠诚。

Staff turnover², or “grasshopping”, is among the biggest headaches for employers in the fast-growing tech sector³ and matchmaking is becoming an attractive company perk⁴ as businesses search for ways to retain employees.

员工流失，即所谓“跳槽”，在快速增长的高科技行业是雇主最头痛的问题之一。随着企业想方设法留住员工，婚介正成为一项极具吸引力的公司福利。

“Once an employee is married, job stability increases significantly,” says Alex Edmunds, co-founder of Conflagr8, a Beijing-based matchmaking service that gets about half its revenue from corporate⁵ events. He points out that US surveys show that newly married employees are 11 per cent less likely to leave their jobs — a figure that rises with each year of marriage — and similar trends hold true in China.

“一旦员工结婚，工作稳定程度就会显著提高，”北京婚介服务“凑凑吧”(Conflagr8)联合创始人艾德瑞(Alex Edmunds)表示。他指出，美国的调查显示，新婚员工离职的可能性降低11%，而且随着婚姻的持续，这个数字逐年上升，中国也存在类似的趋势。“凑凑吧”大约一半的营收来自企业活动。

Beijing-based tech companies are savvy⁶ cupids, jointly⁷ hosting events with female-heavy companies such as banks and even local government departments that are getting in on the matchmaking act.

总部位于北京的高科技公司都是精明的丘比特，它们与女性较多的单位（如银行，甚至正加入婚介活动的当地政府部门）共同举办活动。

These marriages made on the shop floor may prove as perfect as those made in heaven: IT engineers have good salaries and government employees have the cherished hukou, or city registration⁸, that allows a couple to buy a home or educate their child in Beijing.

在工作场所撮合的这些婚姻，可能被证明与“天作之合”一样完美：IT工程师有丰厚的薪资，政府雇员有宝贵的户口，让夫妇能够在北京买房和让子女上学。

Baidu is typical of the tech companies crowded into Zhongguancun, China’s equivalent of Silicon⁹ Valley. About 60 per cent of its 46,000-strong workforce is male and the average age is 26. A company survey showed 19 per cent of its single employees had never been in love.

在有“中国硅谷”之称的中关村，百度是一家典型的高科技公司。其4.6万人的员工队伍大约60%为男性，平均年龄为26岁。一项公司调查显示，19%的单身员工从未谈过恋爱。

“Most engineers are shy and they find dating a little hard. So we hold these activities to help them,” says Summer Zhang, who co-ordinates club activities at IBM, the US tech group in Beijing.

“大多数工程师都害羞，他们发现约会有点令人不知所措。因此我们举办这些活动来帮助他们，”为美国科技集团IBM在北京协调俱乐部活动的Summer Zhang表示。

Corporate singles events tend to be modelled on the hit Chinese TV show If You Are the One with games and quizzes to break the ice. Relationships begun at the singles club can flourish through a variety of other clubs hosted by large companies in China — popular choices are hiking, music and badminton.

公司单身活动往往以中国热门电视节目《非诚勿扰》为蓝本，安排各种游戏和测验以打破尴尬场面。在单身俱乐部开始的关系，可通过中国大公司主办的其它各种俱乐部（流行的选择包括远足、音乐和羽毛球）继续培养。

“These days singles have a lot of problems, and companies want to help,” says Zhang Kongying, the human resources employee who oversees¹⁰ Baidu’s 20 staff activity clubs, including its singles club.

“如今的单身族有很多问题，而企业想帮忙，”负责百度20个员工活动俱乐部（包括单身俱乐部）的人力资源员工张孔颖（音）表示。

Chief among these problems are their parents. To keep long-distant anxious parents supportive of their only child working in Beijing, Baidu sends out an annual newsletter, including its club activities. Parents send handwritten notes back “urging more singles events”, Ms Zhang says.

最主要的问题在于他们的父母。为了让远方焦急的父母支持其独子独女在北京工作，百度寄发年度通讯，内容包括俱乐部活动。张女士表示，有些父母亲笔来信，“强烈要求举办更多单身活动”。

Last year four couples who had met at singles’ events got married, including the president of the singles’ club. Indeed, such is the success that Baidu is thinking of hosting a mass wedding party this year.

去年，在单身活动中结识的四对情侣步入婚姻殿堂，包括单身俱乐部的主席。实际上，这些活动如此成功，以至于百度考虑今年举办一场集体婚礼。

What in the west might seem an intrusion of work into private time is welcome in Beijing, where young singles are far from home and lonely at weekends, says Ms Tian, who is retiring as head of Baidu’s singles club following her marriage. “The point is for singles to get together and have fun. We want our single life to broaden, we want to find people in common to enjoy our life.”

婚后不再担任百度单身俱乐部主席的田女士表示，在西方可能被视为工作侵入私人时间的事情，在北京是受到欢迎的，这里的年轻单身族远离家乡，在周末很孤独。“关键是让单身的人在一起聚会，享受乐趣。我们希望拓宽自己的单身生活，我们希望找到合拍的人共同享受人生。”