I Love China

Yes, the title is a shameless attempt to get a few million extra Google hits to boost my January stats! However, the title also reflects today’s post, so you’re not being duped.

Today’s China Daily has a story about a guy offering 6000 rmb to a suitable girl to pretend to be his girlfriend for 5 days during the coming new year holiday, so his parents will believe he has a nice girlfriend and will stop nagging him about getting settled.

If 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 as to who owned all the red packets filled with money that the boy’s relatives had given to the girl, thinking she was soon to be part of the family!

And speaking to Chinese friends, it does seem that this kind of arrangement is widespread. One of my friends has done this for a college friend, although she didn’t charge a fee, silly girl!

This reveals a lot about the eagerness of Chinese parents to see their children married off as soon as possible and the tremendous pressure children are under to please their parents. It’s sad because many people get hitched to unsuitable or incompatible partners, simply because they felt pressure to marry instead of letting things happen naturally, which is more common in the west.

In order to help some anxious young girls, WoAi has decided to offer his services as a stand in boyfriend over the coming holiday period. Please send me an email if interested, with a photo attached (it doesn’t have to be nude, but nude photos go to the top of the list). I can be a very convincing boyfriend and I guarantee your parents will love me or your money back. And I am available for a follow up next Chinese new year for those that wish to continue the fraud long term!

In China the wedding photography business is a thriving industry. Chinese people get their wedding photos well before they actually get married, unlike in the west, and they can spend vast sums of money for the privilege of having some very cheesy photos taken. These photos are usually then put in to wedding albums full of cringe-worthy, cheesy phrases like “Aching desire, adorable beauty“, “Yearning tenderness, youthful glow” or “Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you was beyond my control“. I could go on but you get the idea.

One wedding company went a step too far though and are being sued by a furious couple who opened their wedding album to find the words “no freedom, no future” plastered across the pages.

I feel a bit sorry for the photographic studio, who must be the first people to be sued for saying something which is blatantly true (yes, yes, I am a terrible cynic, but I can count the number of happily married couples I know on one hand and I don’t need to use all my fingers).

The countdown to Beijing 2008 is in the home straight, and here are a few amazing pictures from the host city (not taken by me I hasten to add) covering some of the last minute preparations.

For those of you not interested in such mundane Olympic matters, here’s an online romance saga that has reached a climax – Aaron and Rosie are finally together and it does appear their online chemistry has spilled over into real life, and that their relationship might actually work out ….. phew!