A young office worker in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality had long admired a certain attractive young woman from a distance, but was at a complete loss as to how he should express his feelings.

Then one day a friend told the 27-year-old man about a new company in town that was offering to help people pursue the objects of their desire if they had inadequate confidence in themselves.

The man contacted the company, Winning the Hand in Sunlight, last month and told staff there his story. The young woman was on a business trip to East China's Zhejiang Province at the time.

Employees from the company took a plane to Zhejiang and set about trying to meet the girl "accidentally". During the ensuing conversation, they told her that a mutual friend was in love with her.

Returning from Zhejiang, the employees, who had become the girl's friends, met her parents and pretended to have mentioned the man accidentally. They praised the young man and finally persuaded the woman's parents to allow him to date their daughter.

When the two met, employees from the company set off fireworks in the sky in the city's suburbs. Moved by the display during which fireworks spelled out "I love you" in the night sky the girl promised to give the man a chance to show whether he was her Mr Right.

Pleased with the results, the man paid the company 50,000 yuan ($6,400) in recognition of its efforts.

Winning the Hand in Sunlight started operating out of an office building in the city's Jiangbei District in late February. It has since succeeded in finding spouses for more than 30 clients.

After a client signs an agreement with the company, staff members will help him or her draw up a plan to pursue the person he or she admires, said Xu, the company's general manager.

If the client is a man, the company will work to figure out the woman's interests and hobbies.

"If the woman likes playing tennis, the company will arrange for the man to appear at the same court with a racket 'unexpectedly'. He will then run into her on her way home so that the woman is impressed with the man," Xu said.

"We also write good love letters and have spelled out the names of our clients' beloveds with candles on the bank of a river," he said.

More than 80 percent of the company's clients are women. Xu said women are generally shy and hesitant to say "I love you" to somebody whose heart they are not sure they can win.

One woman who found love with the company's help said her relationship is stable. However, she said that even if they were married one day, she would not let her partner know that she had hired a company for help.

"It involves privacy," she said.

Xu said almost all the company's clients are white-collar workers who pay at least 5,000 yuan if they succeed in winning the hearts of the people they admire.

Xu said that before the company signs an agreement with a client, staff members work to understand the client and the person he or she admires.

If it appears that the two people are completely incompatible, it will not accept the deal.

"So when we sign a contract, we are confident that we can succeed in the case. That is why we have a high rate of success," Xu said.

Wang Xiumo, a researcher with the Chongqing Academy of Social Sciences, said companies like Xu's should be allowed to ply their trade so long as they do not violate the law. But deception should be avoided to prevent the commercialization of love.

Editor: Wing