"I'd rather cry in a BMW car than laugh on the backseat of a bicycle," Ma Nuo—a 22-year-old model from Beijing told a hapless suitor on China's most popular dating show "f You Are the One".

Her words epitomize the materialism that has come to define the nouveaux riches of the post-1980s generation.

The televised smack down swept the Internet and turned Ma into an instant celebrity. She left the show without a match but has since had numerous television offers and is one of the most talked-about women in the country.

But Ma's words provoked a backlash among many young Chinese, reflecting their growing anxiety over the widening gap between rich and poor, shifting values, and the difficulties of finding a mate in a country where men are expected to outnumber women by 24 million within the next ten years.

It was also a cause for concern for the government. In response to the public outcry over Ma's infamous quote — and comments from other money-obsessed contestants on "If You Are the One" and shows like it — the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) issued a harsh set of new rules for matchmaking programs.

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