While 54 percent of the male respondents said they valued appearance when choosing a mate, only 22.9 percent of the female respondents shared their view.

The survey also revealed that more than 60 percent of the female respondents expect their future partners to show excellent performance at work. In contrast, less than 21 percent of the male respondents expected their wives to be competitive in their careers.

Noticeably, more than 84 percent of those polled said that a woman under the age of 28 is a good catch for marriage and age is the biggest pressure placed on women to get married.

Mora Li, a 28-year-old office worker in Beijing who is anxious to get married before she hits 30, has registered with Jiayuan.com, a popular matchmaking website, in the hope of finding her prince charming.

"My parents have been nagging me to find a husband since I turned 25. As times goes by, I panic at times about becoming a shengnu (leftover woman)," Li said. "Women like me, who don't have Beijing hukou (household registration), long for a small space that really belongs to us, which would make us feel settled. That's why we tend to date someone who has a house in the city."

The survey discovered that the main reasons cited by both men and women for being single are a small social network, too busy at work to start a relationship and too shy to take the initiative to find true love.

(China Daily December 17, 2010)