21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Chinese Relatives Pressuring You to Marry? Try a Rent-a-Boyfriend.

“I’m pretty old – I’m almost 30 – but I’m still single,” Ding Na, a young woman from northeast China who lives in Beijing, explained to the BBC. “I’m under a lot of pressure. My sisters and relatives all ask me why I’m not married.” For many women under that kind of pressure, an answer can be found on China’s online marketplace, Taobao. . . . The fake boyfriend (or commonly, fake girlfriend) trend is a result of the clash between old and new traditions, Hu Xingdou, a social commentator at the Beijing Institute of Technology, told The Guardian. The pressures of modern urban life make it difficult for young people to meet partners, but their parents still expect them to marry in their early or mid twenties.

See, it’s not just in America.