When Wang Dong, 26, from a village in East China's Shandong province, set himself up on a blind date, little did he suspect that his confederate would turn out to be a divorcee.

With a decent diploma and an appearance he considers "handsome," Wang has a high opinion of himself as a potential mate, and similarly high expectations for his spouse, compared with more prosaic rural bachelors.

Unfortunately, the reality of his situation is that there are legions of frustrated young men in his village with the same idea, all looking for mates, and for all his suave good looks and academic credentials, his family can afford neither house nor wedding banquet.

"It is not uncommon for young guys to marry divorced women in villages these days," said Wang's uncle. Such marriages, traditionally unacceptable in rural parts, became commonplace in recent years.

Wang Zhongwu, a sociologist at Shandong University, attributes the spousal shortage to the traditional preference for sons. This, combined with more than 30 years of the one-child policy, has led to a parlous imbalance in rural sex ratios. Thousands of years of values still cast a shadow over many people's attitudes, especially in poverty-stricken or underdeveloped parts.

China has more than 30 million males for whom there is no complementary female and who therefore have almost no chance of starting a family. Though most young people now advocate the freedom to marry their own choice of partner, rural people still often resort to matchmakers.

Like Wang, rural bachelors - mainly those born in the 1990s - have become devotees of the blind date merry-go-round in their search for domestic bliss. During this year's New Year holiday, it was not unusual to see several bachelors line up in front of any eligible young woman's gate, hoping to snag a date.

In North China's Hebei province, Beiwangzhuang Village with a population of 600 is home to at least 30 single young men in want of wives.

"It is hard to find a woman of marriageable age in the village. Divorced women, if they do not have children, can be very popular," said a senior resident, unafflicted by the sorrows of solitude which beset the young bucks of the village.

Having made for the big cities in search of a better life, young women are reluctant to marry rural men, especially those from poor families, said the villager.

The imbalanced sex ratio in rural areas is not helped by low economic status, and has become a very serious problem for men in the countryside, said sociologist Wang.

Besides a red envelop with a certain sum of cash, grooms in many villages are expected to delight the bride and her parents with a new home or even a car. These materialistic requirements can be a big burden for rural families, but sometimes even the trappings of prosperity do little to help.

Liu Lei, a 23-year-old bachelor from Lijiahu township in Shandong province, now shuttles between dates in his new car, bought for him by his parents who also bought him an apartment.

"They believe that decent material conditions will help me attract better looking women," he said, but after dates with eight women so far, none have promised him their hand, or anything else for that matter.

Li Lanyong, a demographer with the Shandong Academy of Social Sciences, believes the loosening of the family planning policy will do something to ease the gender imbalance, but for this generation, the knotty issue of so many "leftover" rural bachelors refuses to go away.