As the sharing economy booms, Chinese people have rented bikes, umbrellas and even sex toys with a quick scan of their phone.
And now the country’s single women have started sharing a boyfriend.
Hundreds of women last weekend flocked to a shopping mall in Haikou, China, trying to hire a handsome date at a price of one yuan (11p) per hour.
The boyfriend candidates stand in boxes with QR codes attached waiting to be hired in China
Hundreds of single women fight to hire a handsome date at the shopping mall in Haikou
Six bachelors, all six feet tall, stood in neon-lit boxes as the mall launched the service on December 24.
According to the shopping mall, customers could rent any of the six men to be their temporary boyfriend by scanning a QR code outside their respective box. No deposit was required.
One woman was allowed to hire one man for up to one hour, but the couple only spend time inside the shopping mall.
The shopping mall said they had picked six ‘good looking’ candidates, all six feet tall
One worker at the shopping mall said she and her colleagues didn’t expect such good results
Stacy Tian, who works at the mall’s event planning department, told MailOnline that she and her colleagues were inspired by the popular sharing culture in China, so they designed the service to help single women celebrate Christmas.
‘We’ve entered an era of single women. There are so many single women in China,’ said Ms Tian.
‘In addition, most of our customers are female, so we wanted to ensure they would have someone to spend Christmas with.’
The service was available on December 24 and 25 from 3pm to 9pm. Ms Tian said hundreds of women swarmed to the mall on either day to choose among the candidates.
‘We didn’t expect such good results,’ Ms Tian added.
The men could be hired at a price of one yuan (11p) per hour to spend time with their customer
A sign outside the candidates’ box says one man could only be hired for an hour within the mall
Apparently, all the six male candidates are workers at the shopping mall. They had been chosen due to their good looks and desirable stature.
Shi Guoshan, the mall’s event planning manager, said: ‘Our requirements were single, mainly the appearance and height. [They] must be six feet tall.’
Mr Shi said the company had tried to recruit boyfriend candidates from the public, but they failed to find any.
One anonymous female user told local news site, Haikou Net, that she had come here after hearing about the service from a friend.
The woman said: ‘I heard the man could accompany me to do shopping and take pictures.
‘Today is Christmas. I could take advantage of the service and show off our romance among my Friends Circle (a function on WeChat, a Chinese chatting app).’
One boyfriend candidate, Mr Zhuang, told Haikou Net that he had served four female customers who were in their early 20s.
He said: ‘I shopped with them, helped them carry their bags and took pictures with them.’
Mr Zhuang said though selfie-taking was part of the service, excessive physical contact between the couple was not permitted.