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Chinese girls rent boyfriends to take home for New Year: 'appropriate kisses, 50 yuan'
A new generation of Chinese women might be able to exploit the gender gap
The Chinese New Year is fast approaching, and millions of girls will be schlepping home from their jobs in the city to their families in the countryside.
According to the Globe and Mail, "Because so many Chinese live and work away from their native towns and villages, and travel home only once a year, the treasured family time is weighted with pressure to show what you've accomplished over the last 12 months." It can be a particularly miserable
experience for girls who don't bring home a boyfriend, leading to endless questions about why they're not dating and where their life's going. In this sexist society, ladies over 27 who aren't hitched are labelled "leftover women."
Thankfully, the internet has a solution for all those loveless leftovers. If you don't have a man to bring home to the folks, just rent one for the week.
Over 300 boyfriend-rental services are currently listed on the Chinese shopping site Taobao. One ad reads, "Not getting any younger and still dreading facing the nagging parents? Need a boyfriend to face the family?" If the answer is "yes" then a girl can pick from a wide range of boys who charge a flat rate plus commission on a whole host of thrilling activities. To quote one charming example:
Boyfriend for rent, 300 yuan a day [$48], holding hands and hugs free, appropriate kisses 50 yuan, talking to old people 30 yuan an hour, others we'll talk about it when we meet "¦ Accommodation and transport costs paid by the woman.
If only all men could charge their girlfriends cash for talking to the in-laws, but it's fascinating to note that it costs slightly more to exchange an "appropriate kiss" than it does to "talk to old people" (if one of those old people demands a kiss, presumably the fee goes through the roof). As the penny-counting implies, there's absolutely no romance in all of this. According to a translation provided by the New York Times, this handsome fellow charges 800 renminbi per day ($128) plus "shopping (15 renminbi per hour or 150 a day, minimum two hours); chatting (10 renminbi an hour or 100 a day); watching a movie (10 renminbi an hour, double for horror films); attending parties (20 renminbi an hour, will not go to dangerous places)." The cheeky devil even charges his host for drinking alcohol – 50 renmimbi for drinking a glass of red wine and 20 renminbi for drinking beer. This might just be the best job in the world.
It seems that China is stuck somewhere between tradition and modernity. On the one hand, this is still a country where women want to please their families and where success is measured in starting a family. On the other hand, a new cosmopolitan generation of girls is finding a way around the pressures of conformity by hiring part time boyfriends. The old communist dream of egality is thus exposed as farce in a society where individuals will not only sell their identity to others for cash but will also be so brazenly profiteering about it. Never could Mao have imagined that boys would charge money to accompany someone to the cinema, let alone expect a double fee if it turns out to be a horror movie (it probably triples if it's anything starring Adam Sandler).
But the most interesting question is what the boyfriend racket says about China's gender gap. China's one-child policy has created an incentive for families to choose raising boys over girls, because boys are thought to have higher earning power. Forthcoming statistics suggest that the male to female ration is now 122 men to every 100 women. Although that testifies to the supposed superior social status of men, men don't necessarily feel the economic benefit as they compete over jobs and women. By 2020 sociologist predict that there will be an "extra" 35 million Chinese men for whom there is no equivalent female partner. Across the country, crime rates and demonstrations are already on the increase; the creation of a generation of underemployed men who aren't even able to create a family will only increase social tensions. But it may also give women greater leverage within the marriage market, as the burgeoning boyfriend trade suggests. Having a bigger choice from a growing supply of men may empower women to stay single longer or perhaps to be more picky about potential suitors. And if the pressures of women working longer and longer hours means they don't get a chance to meet men "¦ they can just hire one.
And so the marketisation of Chinese society continues apace. As the country expands and urbanises, so its inequalities grow. But it's fascinating to watch how a new society improvises its way around its problems. You can see it in the fields of technology and industry, or even in environmental protest. But what's most striking is the way that people are bringing free market principles to bear on human relationships – to the extent that you can silence your relatives by hiring a partner. For those who are interested, I'd like officially to put myself on the market. Be warned though, I will be charging for alcohol drunk, cigarettes smoked and cheeseburgers eaten – so this could get expensive.
Chinese girls rent boyfriends to take home for New Year: 'appropriate kisses, 50 yuan' – Telegraph Blogs
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This again proves my point that the Chinese would do anything for MONEY!
Their God is MONEY.
Very mechanical about life without any emotions. Robotic!
Imagine this shyster - his handsome fellow charges 800 renminbi per day ($128) plus "shopping (15 renminbi per hour or 150 a day, minimum two hours); chatting (10 renminbi an hour or 100 a day); watching a movie (10 renminbi an hour, double for horror films); attending parties (20 renminbi an hour, will not go to dangerous places)." The cheeky devil even charges his host for drinking alcohol – 50 renmimbi for drinking a glass of red wine and 20 renminbi for drinking beer. This might just be the best job in the world.!
Let the world boy youth go to China. It will beat the recession!
A new generation of Chinese women might be able to exploit the gender gap
The Chinese New Year is fast approaching, and millions of girls will be schlepping home from their jobs in the city to their families in the countryside.
According to the Globe and Mail, "Because so many Chinese live and work away from their native towns and villages, and travel home only once a year, the treasured family time is weighted with pressure to show what you've accomplished over the last 12 months." It can be a particularly miserable
experience for girls who don't bring home a boyfriend, leading to endless questions about why they're not dating and where their life's going. In this sexist society, ladies over 27 who aren't hitched are labelled "leftover women."
Thankfully, the internet has a solution for all those loveless leftovers. If you don't have a man to bring home to the folks, just rent one for the week.
Over 300 boyfriend-rental services are currently listed on the Chinese shopping site Taobao. One ad reads, "Not getting any younger and still dreading facing the nagging parents? Need a boyfriend to face the family?" If the answer is "yes" then a girl can pick from a wide range of boys who charge a flat rate plus commission on a whole host of thrilling activities. To quote one charming example:
Boyfriend for rent, 300 yuan a day [$48], holding hands and hugs free, appropriate kisses 50 yuan, talking to old people 30 yuan an hour, others we'll talk about it when we meet "¦ Accommodation and transport costs paid by the woman.
If only all men could charge their girlfriends cash for talking to the in-laws, but it's fascinating to note that it costs slightly more to exchange an "appropriate kiss" than it does to "talk to old people" (if one of those old people demands a kiss, presumably the fee goes through the roof). As the penny-counting implies, there's absolutely no romance in all of this. According to a translation provided by the New York Times, this handsome fellow charges 800 renminbi per day ($128) plus "shopping (15 renminbi per hour or 150 a day, minimum two hours); chatting (10 renminbi an hour or 100 a day); watching a movie (10 renminbi an hour, double for horror films); attending parties (20 renminbi an hour, will not go to dangerous places)." The cheeky devil even charges his host for drinking alcohol – 50 renmimbi for drinking a glass of red wine and 20 renminbi for drinking beer. This might just be the best job in the world.
It seems that China is stuck somewhere between tradition and modernity. On the one hand, this is still a country where women want to please their families and where success is measured in starting a family. On the other hand, a new cosmopolitan generation of girls is finding a way around the pressures of conformity by hiring part time boyfriends. The old communist dream of egality is thus exposed as farce in a society where individuals will not only sell their identity to others for cash but will also be so brazenly profiteering about it. Never could Mao have imagined that boys would charge money to accompany someone to the cinema, let alone expect a double fee if it turns out to be a horror movie (it probably triples if it's anything starring Adam Sandler).
But the most interesting question is what the boyfriend racket says about China's gender gap. China's one-child policy has created an incentive for families to choose raising boys over girls, because boys are thought to have higher earning power. Forthcoming statistics suggest that the male to female ration is now 122 men to every 100 women. Although that testifies to the supposed superior social status of men, men don't necessarily feel the economic benefit as they compete over jobs and women. By 2020 sociologist predict that there will be an "extra" 35 million Chinese men for whom there is no equivalent female partner. Across the country, crime rates and demonstrations are already on the increase; the creation of a generation of underemployed men who aren't even able to create a family will only increase social tensions. But it may also give women greater leverage within the marriage market, as the burgeoning boyfriend trade suggests. Having a bigger choice from a growing supply of men may empower women to stay single longer or perhaps to be more picky about potential suitors. And if the pressures of women working longer and longer hours means they don't get a chance to meet men "¦ they can just hire one.
And so the marketisation of Chinese society continues apace. As the country expands and urbanises, so its inequalities grow. But it's fascinating to watch how a new society improvises its way around its problems. You can see it in the fields of technology and industry, or even in environmental protest. But what's most striking is the way that people are bringing free market principles to bear on human relationships – to the extent that you can silence your relatives by hiring a partner. For those who are interested, I'd like officially to put myself on the market. Be warned though, I will be charging for alcohol drunk, cigarettes smoked and cheeseburgers eaten – so this could get expensive.
Chinese girls rent boyfriends to take home for New Year: 'appropriate kisses, 50 yuan' – Telegraph Blogs
************************************
This again proves my point that the Chinese would do anything for MONEY!
Their God is MONEY.
Very mechanical about life without any emotions. Robotic!
Imagine this shyster - his handsome fellow charges 800 renminbi per day ($128) plus "shopping (15 renminbi per hour or 150 a day, minimum two hours); chatting (10 renminbi an hour or 100 a day); watching a movie (10 renminbi an hour, double for horror films); attending parties (20 renminbi an hour, will not go to dangerous places)." The cheeky devil even charges his host for drinking alcohol – 50 renmimbi for drinking a glass of red wine and 20 renminbi for drinking beer. This might just be the best job in the world.!
Let the world boy youth go to China. It will beat the recession!