BEIJING - Young Chinese women in swishy dresses and strappy sandals sit in a row clutching forms that list their weight and measurements as they wait for an interview with the "appearance consultant".

Dressed as if for a beauty contest, they are among more than 1,000 bidding to make it to the next stage of this bizarre competition - the chance to join an exclusive group of 50 vying for marriage to a multimillionaire.

The testing process screens everything from looks and education to family background and astrological compatibility. The 50 lucky qualifiers win the chance to meet 32 men worth at least 100 million yuan (S$19.7 million).

Although it is at the extreme end of the scale, the matchmaking event arranged by the China Entrepreneur Club for Singles in Beijing reflects the growing challenges of finding a spouse in modern China.

"I don't need to be so rich. I'm just saying I want the ability to have a good lifestyle," said Zeng Xie, 25, wearing thick mascara and a delicate dress as she slipped out between interviews to check in with her mother.

Zeng's mother, who gave only her surname, Niu, rated her daughter's chances of finding love in the city as low, and bemoaned her unwillingness to return to the family's home town.

"She's got a lot of great qualities, so she has quite high standards," said Niu. "Kids these days are working and they are so busy, they don't have time to make friends."

Experts say the material demands of some young Chinese have escalated as the country's wealth has grown - with home ownership a common requirement, according to Yale sociologist Deborah Davis.

Davis says that transient urban lifestyles have combined with frenetic social change, booming wealth and more relaxed sexual mores to complicate the process of finding a partner in China.

The escalating demands of potential spouses have come under the spotlight in recent years thanks to popular television dating shows featuring materialism so outrageous that worried authorities forced them to dial them back.

One female contestant famously rebuffed a potential suitor, saying she would "rather cry in a BMW car than laugh on the backseat of a bicycle", while another requested 200,000 yuan to allow a man to shake her hand.

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(Photos: AFP, China Smack, People.com.cn, NetEase, Internet)