Heard of Taobao before? Neither have we, but apparently, this is the Chinese version of eBay, and a rather enterprising Chinese entrepreneur realized that there is money to be made by spinning a website which allows single Chinese females to rent a “boyfriend” to accompany them back home for the lunar New Year – at least, that is what an article in the UK’s Financial Times reported. As you know, with the One Child Policy in China still in place, as well as the importance of having descendants being deeply entrenched in Chinese culture, to return home single might prove to be more of a social stigma than one can imagine, and no one is getting any younger as each year passes, either. The “rental” would include the boyfriend having decent conversational skills to chat up the parents, while hand-holding and hugging might be chargeable “items”. This substitute boyfriend will even share a bedchamber with the client should the female feel it is a necessary move to persuade doubting parents. Something tells me that a true love story will definitely crop up from such coincidental situations – what do you think?
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