Food for Thought: Fake Boyfriends- Brilliant or Scary?

Link to podcast:

<< http://www.mixcloud.com/antonipeychev/food-for-thought-fake-boyfriends-brilliant-or-scary/ >>

Only recently, the gallant dragon has disappeared into a mist of fiery flames and given way to the gracious, yet, at least historically, deceitful creature that is the snake.

I am not, of course, talking about an episode which I have had under the influence of recently administered anaesthesia but am merely referring to what the year 2013 symbolizes in the Chinese Zodiac Calendar.

The topic of today’s entry, however, has very little to do with the Chinese Zodiac Calendar, dragons or snakes, for that matter.

It is, though, tightly connected to the celebrations surrounding the Chinese New Year in the 21^st century and a specific phenomenon that has developed only recently.

Since one of my best friends is from Hong Kong, I have been, for quite some time, aware that the celebration of the Chinese New Year has always been a massive thing in China.

I shall not go into any of the customs surrounding the celebration in detail; suffice to say, for the purposes of today’s discussion, that it is customary for the whole family to gather round a table and ‘catch up’ over a rich dinner.

Now, when I say ‘family’, I don’t mean your usual family of four plus a pet; the family referred to above includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, their pets, their pets’ pets and so on and so forth.

At such gatherings, as we are all painfully aware of, most of the relatives present are always interested in whom their ‘young offspring’ is currently dating, whether they have any serious intentions to start a family, when they are planning on doing it or, if they do not plan to do so, WHY they are not doing it, what is wrong with them, what problems they have, can they help me them out in any way, how many children they want to have…..

….oh, the horror of it all!

There are but a few things that are more painful than the above episode: those include following a person on twitter only to realise that he is tweeting about EVERYTHING that he is doing, including describing the taste of the food that he is eating and the ‘beverage’ that he is ‘consuming’ (God almighty…).

The only thing that it’s even more painful than the above is to be one of the few SINGLE people on such a family gathering.

As such, you will, undoubtedly, be bombarded with an array of questions, among which:

• Why did you split up with your ex-boyfriend again? What was it you did?
• Have you spoken to him since? Why not? or Why have you? Have you spoken to someone else then

• Whom did you speak to? How is that working out for you?

• When are you going out then? When can we meet him? When can he meet us?

Now, the above is as applicable to a girlfriend as it is to a boyfriend; I am merely using the latter due to reasons to be explained below.

Frankly, ANYONE would LOVE to avoid the above by, say, not showing up to those gatherings. This is, however, out of the question as, by doing so, you will spark your relatives’ curiousity even more; it will be like committing some sort of social suicide.

What you MIGHT do in China, however, is hire a ‘fake’ boyfriend for the day and do away with all of the above by carefully drafting a script for the night.

Even though that sounds rather humorous and farfetched, it would seem that quite a few people are doing it; and for a hefty price.

For more information on pricing and how the whole arrangement works, please visit:

<< http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-21192131 >>

<< http://www.marketplace.org/topics/world/bbc-world-service/fake-boyfriends-rent-chinese-new-year >>

The idea, in itself, is rather ludicrous; it might even be considered by some as degrading to both the payor and the payee.

Nevertheless, a good many people (worldwide and not only in China) are making use of such arrangements.

Furthermore, a lot of people have, well, gone into the business of ‘fake partner-ing’, some of them in the hope of finding people with similar to theirs interests and maybe even ‘true love’.

With view to the ever- changing social scenery of the twenty- first century, one would be justified in pondering whether the above is ludicrous or, indeed, quite innovative and ingenius.

It being a new venture, however, means that it is way too early to draw conclusions on its efficacy; for now, we shall just have to sit, wait and find partners in the normal way…

…online.