Meeting someone new isn’t always the easiest of tasks, so spare a thought for China’s young women who face intense parental pressure to find the right man.
As a result, women terrified of returning home without a handsome other half resort to hiring ‘boyfriends’ for the duration of their visit.Now a shopping website, Taobao, has launched a new rent-a-boyfriend service which allows would-be fake other halves to advertise their services — complete with price lists.
According to Chinese newspaper, the People’s Daily, rent-a-boyfriends must be hired for a minimum of three days and offer a range of services including dinner (50 yuan) and shopping trips (30 yuan), on top of their 30 yuan hourly fee.
Other services include seeing a film, although you will have to pay double if the movie is a thriller, and a 50 yuan peck on the lips, although hand-holding and a goodbye kiss on the cheek or forehead are free.
“I wanted to earn some pocket money when I had just graduated from university and started to work,” explains one advertiser, 27-year-old Matthew Fang from Chongqing.
“This rental business isn’t bad, especially during the Chinese Lunar New Year when there are family reunions.”
And business is booming for a reason. Chinese women in particular still face enormous parental pressure to meet a suitable man and rather than face a barrage of questions from nosy relatives, hire their men instead.
According to Fang, the recruitment process begins with a preliminary meeting to discuss the client’s requirements and to get their back story straight.
Typically, the pair will exchange photos and will have a rehearsal before going ahead with the rental.
Despite the detailed list of services and attempts — on both sides — to keep relations professional, some of the rent-a-boyfriends admit that it can, at times, be difficult.
-With dailymail.co.uk input
