China's 'rent a boyfriend': A new booming business with no strings attached

China’s "rent a boyfriend" business is the brainchild of a florist who got the idea of boyfriend and girlfriend rentals after seeing a personal ad. According to ABC News on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, this is China’s time of the year for celebration as the Chinese New Year rings in. This, along with Valentine’s Day being just around the corner, has sparked an influx of business for the florist turned date renter!

Renting a boyfriend is much more popular than renting a girlfriend, claims Mr. Gao, which is the name the founder of this service wants to go by in the media. Many of the younger people living away from home have this holiday time to go home and visit family. Unlike the U.S., one of the ways to gage how well the young person has done in the previous year is if they bring home a girlfriend or a boyfriend. This is one of the ways that the young people in China are using this service, renting a pretend love interest to bring home to the folks.

The service ranges from about $8 an hour to see a movie and the fee continues to rise depending on what the rented boyfriend or girlfriend is expected to do. Meeting the parents is one of the services this business provides, but it cost more than $8 for the pretend boyfriend or girlfriend to make a trip to meet the folks.

Mr. Gao started the business after he saw a personal ad that read, “Seeking to rent boyfriend.” This new business has taken off in China as many of the young people using the business are too busy building their career to take the time out for meeting potential suitors.

This online website lets you search through scores of bios until you find the boyfriend or girlfriend you’d like to rent. This business has really expanded Mr. Gao’s online traffic. It is one way to enjoy the company of a mate without having all the extra phone calls and game playing that traditionally goes along with dating.

According to ABC News, there are many different reasons the girls in China are using this service. They rent a boyfriend to make their real boyfriend jealous, they rent a boyfriend to bring to a company dinner to show the boss how stable they are in life and then there's the rent the boyfriend to meet the parents. This stops the worry for the parents that their adult child is unwanted and worries that they'll never marry.

The service does provide something that’s very meaningful to parents, even though they don’t know it is a paid-for set up. It allows the young men and women to make their parent’s proud, they get to pick a guy or a girl that would fit what their parent’s would expect for the perfect mate for their grown child. This saves all that "When are you going to find a nice boy/girl and settle down" conversation that's pretty universal!