Existing literature has pointed to the dilemmas encountered by many women in the current Chinese marriage market, which mainly result from the conflict between the elevated status of women and the engrained patriarchal gender ideology. However, less is known about women’s mate selection concerns which have been shaped by this context. This article contributes to the field in two aspects. First, it demystifies gan jue (feelings), which is a central discourse in contemporary Chinese young people’s mate choice criteria and, yet, a discourse that has received inadequate attention in existing literature on courtship and marriage in current Chinese society. Second, from the perspective of gender reflexivity, the present study elaborates on how the emphasis on gan jue in young women’s mate selection concerns questions of gender normativity and indicates the emergence of a new generational pattern of intimacy in China.