Billboard calls for love
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-21 11:17

A Chinese-Austrilian woman in the market for a husband decided that an advertisement in the lonely hearts column of a newspaper simply wouldn't do. Nor would posting an item on the Internet.

A pedestrian walks past a giant billboard at the major Sydney intersection bearing Chinese-Australian woman Helen Zou's ad seeking a husband. [AFP]

So Helen Zou, a 40-year-old Sydney civil engineer, went public in the most dramatic form. She erected a giant billboard at a major Sydney intersection appealing for love.

The billboard sits near the popular Ritz Theater in the affluent eastern suburb of Randwick.

In blaring capital letters, it reads, "HUSBAND WANTED" before continuing: "Beautiful, intelligent Australian Chinese lady seeks to have dream family with a fabulous partner to enjoy a lifetime with."

Zou asked for a man "ideally in good health (non-smoker or drinker)," aged up to 45, "unencumbered and of Caucasian appearance (with a) good sense of humor (and a) solid financial background with warm and caring nature."

She also said she would prefer a "businessman or professional background" before asking for "serious replies only."

Zou resorted to the billboard after earlier attempts to find a partner failed. She had previously been involved in a five-year, transnational relationship with a man.

According to experts, Zou's predicament is not unusual for many young Sydney women – even if her solution is.

In 2001, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that 23 percent of Australian households were single-person and that a quarter of women of child-bearing age were likely to remain childless. And the trend has only continued.

Under Zou's contract with the Australian Posters company, her billboard will stay up for another month – or until her ideal man arrives.

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