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For lots of young folk going back to visit their families, the Spring Festival can be a bit of a pressure pot. Many times, Chinese parents like to follow up the customary greeting of "Have you eaten?" with "So when are you getting married?" One 31-year-old in Ningbo was so desperate not to disappoint mom and dad that he posted a notice asking to hire a pretend girlfriend.
From China Daily:
"My parents have been pushing me for a long time to find a girlfriend and asked me to bring her home for Spring Festival," Liu says. He has left his personal information and blog address on the website. "It's always better to be honest," he says. "My price is competitive," though.
The offer was 6,000 RMB for the five days. Over 20,000 people have browsed his post and nearly 400 applicants have responded.
According to I Love China, this isn't the first time some boy has hired a pretend girlfriend. Just last year there were two reports of men paying to look coupled.
One, a cotton factory worker in Henan, got into a dispute with his fake-girl when she wouldn't return the hong bao that his parents had given her. Another, an engineer in Shanghai, got found out. His parents weren't too pleased.
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Come on! This story has been coming up every year for at least thirteen years, that I know of.
I blogged about it here in 2005
http://liuzhou.blog-city.com/girlfriend_for_hire.htm
How about pretend boyfriends?... not happening yet, huh?
Aside from all the other stuff- I reckon if you're a fake girlfriend, the hong bao is part of the deal.
Asking for it back is like trying to get the ring back if you break an engagement.
Not cool Mr Cotton in Henan, do you hear me?
Liu Zhou - It's not the same story, the 6000 rmb happened this year, not in 2005 and the two cases referenced were also in different provinces such as Henan rather than Ningbo.