Three unrelated stories with a common theme for you today, all courtesy of the China Daily which can always be relied upon to supply gems on a slow news day.
A lot of young people these days are pressured by parents to settle down and find a spouse. This has caused many to resort to desperate measures to alleviate some of the pressure. Zhou Chao decided to hire a girl to pretend to be his girlfriend when he returned home to spend the Spring Festival with his parents. But it all backfired when his parents found out and were none too pleased.
A similar thing happened in Zhengzhou, Henan province where a guy paid a colleague (100 rmb per day) to pretend to be his girlfriend for the holidays. They weren’t found out, but a dispute arose when the girl refused to return the red packets of “lucky money” (totalling 4700 rmb!) that the boy’s parents and relatives had given to her. They eventually agreed to split the money equally between them! I don’t know why the boy is complaining, he made more than enough to cover his “rental” costs!
And finally, at their wedding ceremony, a couple of student doctors from Nanjing each presented a 1 ml test tube containing liquid in which their DNA had been blended together to signify they would never be separated. They apparently “collected oral mucosa and hair, broke down the cells and then dissolved them in water”. Who says romance is dead!
Oh and if anyone is interested in financing my new rent a girlfriend business, please contact me immediately!
February 26th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
you know, that probably wouldn’t be such a terrible idea . . . except that it sounds too close to prostitution! (unless of course you could guarantee there’d be no funny business . . . )
February 26th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Half of the guys I know in Shanghai ‘rent girlfriends’ on a regular basis. And they exchange fluids too.
February 26th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
ewwwwwwwwww.
February 26th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Angie – What’s the point or renting a car if you’re not allowed to drive it! But to answer your prostitution reference, that particular market is already well catered for here so there would be no point in jumping on that particular bandwagon. My “agency” would focus on an entirely different market where good looks and a big chest are secondary to having impeccable manners and being presentable as a potential wife. We would of course take 10% of all red packet earnings!
James – Half? So that means that between you, me, Wiggy and Dingle, 2 of us are regular punters and it’s obviously not you and clearly not me ….
February 26th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I know other people in Shanghai young WoAi!
February 26th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Good point James, I was just speaking from a statistical approach, like that joke that goes something like this:
Apparently, 1 in 5 people in the world are Chinese. And there are 5 people in my family, so it must be one of them. It’s either my mum or my dad. Or my older brother Colin. Or my younger brother Ho-Cha-Chu. But I think it’s Colin.
February 26th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
*cough*macao*cough*!
February 26th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Anyone know how to close this post to further comments!
February 26th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Dont close it yet I got a mate visiting HK this wkend he was asking about the Macao James mentions. So whats the deal??? He’s very keen!
February 26th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Rich – I assume you have seen the most excellent Curtis Hanson movie, LA Confidential? How does it go again? Fleur de Lys, where all desires will be fulfilled ….
February 26th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
ewwwwwww.
February 27th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Rich, it’s a bit like Disneyland only instead of having Mickey Mouse, they have whores!
February 27th, 2008 at 11:00 am
James – Actually they *do* have Mickey Mouse as well if that’s what floats your boat!
Angie – Allow me to anticipate your next comment: Ewwwwwwwwwwwww!
February 27th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
hmm, not keen on Mickey Mouse- do they have that bird out of Mulan?
February 27th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Not sure but they had Pocahontas – close enough?
February 27th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Lol always been more of a tinkerbell kinda guy tbh
So James, how much is one of those day passes? You know, where all the rides are free
February 28th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Bro those passes are going to be a waste of money as you’ll be tired after one “ride” and will want to have a rest.
February 28th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Did someone say forplay? Usually I only manage 1 play. Then I fall asleep
August 6th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
bingo!
renting girlfriends for showing off at family event is so common
especially @ chinese ny time.
January 21st, 2009 at 2:47 pm
[...] all this sounds familiar, it’s because I blogged about an almost identical story last year. The reason that story got in the news was that there was a dispute between the guy and the girl [...]