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There is some good incidental description of the operation of matchmakers within a mercantile community in the Ming dynasty in 三遂平妖傳 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Sui_Quash_the_Demons... ). In the story, a girl's father, one of the most successful merchants in the area, visits some matchmakers (who seem to operate as a pair) and commissions them to find a husband for his daughter. He gives them money every time he sees them (initially, plus every time they visit his home to mention a candidate).

There was certainly a lot of money available if you could hold the job.

(It's a humorous episode in the story. The matchmakers are overjoyed to be commissioned to find a husband for a girl widely known to be young, beautiful, intelligent, and rich. They bring back offers from a string of A-list merchant scions, which leads to frustration because the father specifically wants to marry his daughter to someone very stupid.)




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