Workshop acts as an active matchmaker

At 24, locomotive electrician Tang Zixiang and his girlfriend Sun Jiachen tied the knot this March, embarking on a new chapter in their lives. The young man, originally from Wuwei city in Gansu province, finally found a place to call home in Houma, Shanxi province.

Their connection began at the Yuanlai (destiny) Workshop established in June 2023 at the Houma North Locomotive Depot of China State Railway Group's Taiyuan Railway Bureau. The name holds a double meaning: not only does it signify "Fate has brought us together", but also "This is where we can settle down".

"The Qixi Festival is approaching, and I want to surprise her. I've been practicing cooking in the kitchen after work recently, and I've prepared red wine and candles," Tang said.

The Qixi Festival, known as the Chinese Valentine's Day, is a traditional festival centered around the theme of love and will be observed on Aug 29 this year.

"Front-line railway positions are busy, and most young workers just want to rest after work. Their social circle is narrower than the railway tracks," said Qiao Linhu, an employee of the workshop, highlighting the dilemma faced by many young railway workers today.

He said that over half of the workers were unmarried youths, and the issue of love and marriage was hindering their willingness to "settle down".

"To ensure that young people can work with peace of mind at the Houma North Locomotive Depot, it's not only about retaining them through salaries but also helping them start families and careers, and to settle down in the area," said Yu Yang, director of the depot. "That's why we have established the dating workshop."

As a critical channel for national energy supply, the Houma depot shoulders the heavy responsibility of freight transportation on the Houyue Railway and the Wari Railway. The proportion of young workers at this depot is as high as 77.08 percent, with over half of the nearly 2,000 workers coming from other regions, such as Hebei, Henan and Heilongjiang provinces.

Over the past two years, the Yuanlai Workshop has identified the needs of young people in love and marriage through surveys and face-to-face communications, creating a "database of single young people".

Meanwhile, the depot has established regular connections with over 20 government agencies, enterprises and institutions in Houma and its surrounding areas, organizing matchmaking events, weekend parties, and "friendship+" activities during occasions such as the Qixi Festival to provide young people with more opportunities for both online and offline interactions.

"At first, we thought coordinating with various institutions would be challenging," said workshop worker Zhang Yin, who is known as the workshop's "top matchmaker". "But our railway workers are actually quite popular."

He has visited schools, hospitals, and enterprises in Houma over the past two years to build up connections. In his view, the reliability and steadfastness of railway workers have long been their "hallmark", and cross-unit cooperation has expanded the social circle of young people. To date, 108 pairs of young people have successfully married through this platform.

One of these pairs is 29-year-old driver Yang Yang and locomotive electrician Huang Chujing. To celebrate the Qixi, Yang secretly booked tickets to fly to Lijiang, Yunnan, with his beloved. "I want to take my love to the shores of Erhai Lake to listen to the waves and taste some flower cakes," he said with a smile.

While artificial intelligence matchmaking based on big data is becoming a trend, the workshop persists in its "technology plus human touch" model: using algorithms to accurately match young people with similar interests and relying on matchmakers to visit and communicate intimately.

Of late, Zhang has been busy preparing for the singles' social event on the eve of Qixi. It has become a tradition for the workshop.

Zhang Yunsen contributed to this story.