Documentary tackles the stigma and struggles of women looking for love in the big city, Wang Qian reports.

For Dong Xueying, romance has been one of her life goals. The only question is when it will come. The 38-year-old documentary director is ready for love, but she can feel the social stigma toward single women, especially those in their 30s. Her own experiences inspired her documentary Hard Love, which premiered in cinemas on March 18 and explores the life of single women in modern society.

The 97-minute film follows the stories of five single women working in Beijing, aged from 28 to 38－Zhou Hongmei, a beipiao ("Beijing drifter"), freelancer Dong Jiaqi, single mother Li Tao, businesswoman Tan Jing and musician Yue Er.

"Through the lens, I want to look into why it is increasingly difficult for educated women in big cities to find love, and encourage viewers to talk about and discuss the issue," Dong Xueying says, adding that the film doesn't have all the answers, but presents diversified views, not just a "happily ever after".

"It is a documentary that makes you laugh and think," Dong Xueying says.

The documentary starts at a matchmaking corner in a Beijing park, where parents seek out potential partners for their children, with cardboard signs listing matchmaking criteria, such as age, height, job, salary and family background. According to the seventh national census last year, China has 220 million unmarried people, accounting for 13.3 percent of people aged 20 or above.

Behind the simple information on the signs are tens of thousands of complex individuals, like white-collar worker Zhou.

Born in a village in Zibo, Shandong province, Zhou has tried various matchmaking services, online and in person. Aged 28 at the time of filming, the woman is not satisfied with her matchmaking resume.

"On the sheet, there is so little about me, like my interests, personality and dreams, just material things," she complains in the documentary.

In her father's eyes, she is outstanding in the village, but he still jokes about her as "a loser", because she hasn't brought a man back home. In the traditional view, for women, marriage should come before a career.

In the matchmaking market, any woman older than her late 20s is at a disadvantage. It is harder for women at an older age, with a successful career, to meet a marriageable man.