Extreme measures are being taken to address a growing market in China: websites where women can "rent-a-boyfriend" for the Lunar New Year.
This time of year can be hard for single Chinese women with the Lunar New Year holiday coming up. Many women feel ashamed if they go back home without meeting the demands of their elders of finding a mate, and "the best way to repay" their parents is by bringing home a boyfriend for the holiday according to the poplar Taobao.com website.
"Young people both want to go home yet are afraid to go home," said Meng Guangyong, 29, who is from Guizhou province in the far southwest but lives in Beijing, where he runs a boyfriend-broker business online according to BuisnessInsider.com."If they haven't found a partner yet, when they go home parents will nag them or send them on blind dates or find someone to introduce them to people. Then even though all you wanted was to enjoy a happy new year, in the end nobody in the family is happy."
Over 300 different websites are available for woman to "rent-a-boyfriend" to pretend they have a boyfriend for the Feb. 10 celebration, which is known as the world's largest annual human migration.
The options for one "rent-a-boyfriend" offered on Taobao.com is quite overwhelming according to Business Insider, but the fees are pretty understandable. Chatting with a man is approximately $5 an hour in U.S dollars, eating a meal, which is paid by the renter is $8 an hour. The package for a whole day is worth $160 in U.S money. Talking to relatives and family members is free according to the website.
Rates usually range between $1.60 to $1,600 an hour according to a report by ChannelNewsAsia.com. There are fees for hugging and kissing, but a majority of the sites do not allow anything more than that.
"Most of them are older, between 23 and 28 years and are office workers," said Lin DeZhou who has put himself up for rent this year according to Channel News Asia. They have strong personalities, and like refreshing things. Being older, they've been pushed by their families to get married. So they're looking for a man as a replacement for a boyfriend to meet their parents.
For young people, as Meng pointed out, the easy part is "fending off" parents once a year so you don't have to be set up on blind dates or hassled about why you haven't found a partner yet. The hard part is actually finding someone once the New Year celebration is over.
Women in China are expected to marry before the age of 27, when they become known as shengn, or "leftover women", a social status which women are going to desperate lengths to ignore now. Likewise parents want their sons to settle down at a reasonable age so that their parents can have grandchildren to carry on the family name.
"It's not like in the West where the individual is very independent, and their love life has nothing to do with their parents," said Meng according to the report by Business Insider. "China cares more about the family point of view. Parents must be made happy. "Marriage in China has really begun to look like a business transaction."
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