The rise in intense social pressure to marry early in the country has seen a rise in bachelors bringing home colleagues and friends as ‘girlfriends’ to meet their parents.
The social trend has become a lucrative business, offering and app with girls offering an escort service for a fee.
The last week-long national holiday has seen a large surge in the business as men paid up to 1,000 yuan, around £100, to hire a ‘girlfriend’ they hardly know in a bid to please their family members.
Marriage is an issue that’s unavoidable and inescapable in China where it is often considered de rigueur for people, especially women, to get married by the time they are 27.
After this nominal age, single men and women are referred to as ‘leftover’ – a mar on their social status.
In the crowded Chinese marriage market, women are suddenly in short supply while many more men, especially those from the poorest backgrounds, will face a lifetime of being single.
There has already been growing trend of bachelor villages where men cannot afford to marry as well as those who take wives from neighbouring countries such as Vietnam.
Although China is trying to address the skewed male to female ratio, it seems that, for the near future at least, those without companions will find people rental apps the most convenient way to find ‘girlfriends’ to satisfy their demanding parents.
Read More: http://gx.people.com.cn/n/2015/1008/c368257-26695339.html
