She likes a 39-year-old British guy very much, but he took another girl, a Chinese girl, to a New Year's Eve party, while she was patiently waiting forhim to ask her.

Luft, a 34-year-old Canadian, who teaches English in China, hasn't had a date in over a year.

Beijing, like any other great city of the world, is a mass of people trying to hook up.

Trying to find a date on the subway, on the other hand, is not so easy.

Just trying to talk to a stranger, let alone finding love and attraction, within the confines of such a subway is like trying to pet a puppy in a war zone.

Yet over beers with a friend – the catalyst of so many a wager – I was challenged to score a date while riding the subway within a week.

However, these expats are not always the most reliable narrators.

Even websites that cater to expats are full of stories of foolish, usually drunken, "laowai" humiliating themselves in one manner or another.

The Chinese society is seeing more young singletons.

Finding a date in Beijing is not especially difficult.

If you know where to go, you can have your pick of either wayfaring expats, happy-go-lucky students or young, eager Chinese all on the lookout for potential mates.

While most of the time she enjoys being single, there are moments when she feels quite the opposite."It's the hardest on New Year's Eve or when I am sick and wish I had a man to bring me soup and rub my back," she said.

Luft said it's extra hard being single when one is abroad.