Feeling Lonely? China Malls Offer Boyfriends for Rent to Keep You Company

Being single often causes women to feel lonely and— in some occasions— desperate. This is particularly true during special holidays like Christmas and Valentine’s Day when ladies tend to feel a stronger need for company.

Because of this, shopping centers in China came up with a solution that not only meets the public’s demands but also ropes in more customers to their place of business: boyfriend rentals.

In China, you can rent a boyfriend for an hourly rate…

Malls in the most populous nation in East Asia are now offering “boyfriend-for-rent” services to help lonely women survive the holidays.

Dozens of lonely women in China line up to rent a boyfriend.

At a rate of two yuan or 32 cents per hour, ladies strolling around a shopping center located at the Hebei province in northern China can already enjoy the company of their very own “boyfriend.”

They even come with their own Barbie doll-style box.

Also called the “boyfriend-sharing” service, the new attraction was launched in April 2018 for the Hebei province shopping mall. However, the rental service is nothing new in the country. In fact, there have been several reports about the unusual offering in the past few years.

One can enjoy the service with just a swipe of their phones as the establishment created a QR code customers can scan to make payment for their newly rented “boyfriend.”

To avoid customers and observers from getting the wrong idea, malls specified the things that rental boyfriends are allowed to do with their girlfriend-slash-clients, reports the South China Morning Post.

"Shared boyfriends offer services such as holding bags, taking photos, chatting and shopping."

To top that off, a boyfriend-for-rent working at a mall in Hainan’s Haikou City explained that they are not allowed to make any physical contact with their clients who are mostly women in their 20s.

In China, women undergo so much pressure to get married that they resort to rental boyfriends. This may be why the new business is booming in the country.

Based on a report from Vice, it is even more prevalent during Chinese New Year when young adults travel back to their hometowns to visit their parents who, apparently, expect their children to have some kind of progress in their quest for marriage.