Zhenai, set up in 1998, said in August it had 26 million users across China and 14 other countries, with 40,000 new members joining daily, with a year's membership costing 200 yuan. The National Business Daily said their revenue is also set to top 100 million yuan this year, keeping it on par with Jiayuan.

Lu Jiehua, a professor with the Department of Sociology at Peking University, said "more people are becoming increasingly dependent on the Internet and go online to find solutions."

The young now prefer new services that offer more options for them to choose from, unlike the traditional ways of matchmaking that they view as outdated and unreliable, Lu said.

Zhu Yiqing, a 26-year-old college teacher in Beijing, registered as a member of Jiayuan in 2009.

"My circle is quite small, and people I can get to know are very limited. My parents are pressuring me to get married as I grow older," Zhu told the Global Times, adding that she had not yet found her Mr. Right, despite going on several dates through the website.

Zhang Yi, a researcher with the Institute of Population and Labor Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that greater social mobility was made it harder for people to fall in love.

"With the hustle and bustle of modern life, inner circles of acquaintances are getting smaller," Zhang said, adding that higher living standards and education levels have combined to drive up the average age at which people get married.

Li Yinhe, a sociologist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said high expectations result in single people.

She suggested that the stereotypes about single people must evolve to reflect the modern social norms of today.