Series with a vision for blind dates

Two strangers, a man and woman, much like the people we encounter every day, meet for the first time on a blind date. During dinner, they talk, engage in playful banter, tease and offend each other, and finally begin heartfelt conversations. Every moment of hesitation, nervous laughter, instances of excitement, subtle avoidance, and fleeting moments of uncertainty are caught on camera in close-up shots of their expressions.

In recent years, reality shows bringing together carefully selected young men and women under the same roof over a span of time have become popular. Watching to see if there are any sparks of attraction among these attractive men and women has the appeal of a romantic drama for an audience yearning for whimsical love stories. The inspiration of the genre on dating shows is reinforced by the latter's meticulously choreographed setups and carefully edited scenes.

Love, If You Dare, a recent documentary, adopts a different approach.

It takes patience and the ability to overcome awkwardness to finish each hourlong episode, but if you persist, you will be rewarded as it skillfully navigates the unscripted, often uneasy, yet undeniably human moments that shape our connections with others by documenting blind dates like the one outlined above.

Since 60 episodes were released on the video-sharing platform Youku recently, snippets from the show have gone viral on short-video platforms, racking up hundreds of millions of views and triggering fierce debates.

Many viewers have been enticed to watch the show as it gives a real-world peek into the messy and mundane scenes of the blind date, instead of spinning romantic fantasies or stirring up scripted conflicts like other dating-related shows. It has gained a score of 7.9 out of 10 on the review site Douban.

However, Cheng Gong, the show's director, offers a different perspective. He believes person-to-person communication between strangers that delves into profoundly meaningful topics along the way is a rare and even surreal scene in today's society.

"In this age of information explosion, where numerous distractions vie for our attention, big data algorithms serve a diverse range of content tailored to our preferences. Living fast-paced lives, individuals have lost the patience to deeply comprehend another person," he says.

"For two strangers to come together and engage in a frank and extended conversation for hours is now a demanding endeavor."

Along with his filming crew, Cheng dedicated almost three years to the preparation and production of the show, which for him has a Utopian quality.

"I'm quite an old soul. I feel that in the past, when I was young and in love, I would spend the entire day thinking about someone. That day could have been agonizing or seemingly endless, but it held a unique beauty," he says. "I personally want to preserve this particular kind of beauty, which seems much rarer now."

Marriage registrations in China have consistently decreased over the past nine years, hitting their lowest point last year since 1986, with a mere 6.833 million couples registering, according to a report released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in June.

Apart from economic factors such as high housing and living costs that contribute to low marriage rates, there is still much room to explore how people have come to perceive and pursue love and engage in relationships differently over the past decades.

Wang Xiaonan, producer of the show, says that the increasing number of convenience services such as doorstep food deliveries have fostered greater personal independence, reducing people's reliance on, and therefore need for, partners.

She also notes that she finds young people today are more cautious with their emotions and are less daring in love, fearing potential hurt.

"Through the show, I want to encourage everyone to bravely open themselves up, feel the chemistry when people connect with one another, and have the guts to dive into love without holding back," she says.

That has struck a chord with viewers.

"I feel that we should put down our phones more often and engage in real-world interactions to experience different kinds of chemistry. I believe this is the most endearing aspect of being human," says a viewer.

That the short clips from the show have had a wider reach compared to the main program only serves to highlight this fact. "It aligns with the way people consume information nowadays — many individuals lack the patience for lengthy dates," says Wang.

She says the way these short videos were spread has had a dual effect. On the one hand, their sensationalized headlines and the fragmented talk makes them susceptible to misinterpretation, which is likely to trigger wide discussions. On the other hand, they fail to reflect the dynamics of the subtle changes in the interactions among the couples.

Therefore, she says, in future programs she plans to add an observation room where experts can thoroughly analyze these conversations, which she hopes will help generate deeper reflection and greater discussions about relationships and what it means to be human.