Chinese Women Quash Their Families’ Spinster Fears by Renting Boyfriends for the Holidays

by Katrina Pallop

Tired of fielding questions about your enduring singleness from prying family members? Why not rent a significant other for your next family gathering, and nip those harping questions in the bud! This tactic, which might at first sound like something out of a romantic comedy, has become a viable option for women in China.

Scouring the classified ads in China will yield postings for proffered male companionship…for the right price. Though sex is not an entry on the itemized list of services these guys are willing to perform, woman can pay per the hour for a man to accompany them to their next family party. And during the Chinese New Year, these services are in high demand. 

Though the pressure to be married with children by the age of 30 is lessening (somewhat) here in America, Chinese women are still feeling the heat to settle down before they’ve cleared their twenties. But with so many Chinese women making strides in their careers, marriages are simply happening later in their lives. 

Chinese women have long been offering their services as fake girlfriends in a similar fashion. Gay men who have yet to come out to their families and bachelors in their thirties are players in the rent-a-girlfriend game, and now ladies are getting in on the action as well. 

 

Source: TIME, BBC News

Photo via Want China Times

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