New year, new fake partners for China’s young singletons with parents to please | World news | guardian.co.uk

Finding a new man to take home for the holidays proved surprisingly easy for Lily Li. He had to be reliable, taciturn – and available for a few hundred yuan.

“I was not looking for some perfect guy to marry. Just someone tall – my parents like tall guys a lot – honest and not too talkative, so he doesn’t say something wrong,” explained the 26-year-old.

Next week’s lunar new year is China‘s biggest festival. It can also be a major headache for those returning home without a potential spouse. Pressure on young adults to settle down goes into overdrive, as gathering family members begin the inquisition and line up possible candidates.

Taking a boyfriend or girlfriend home is a fast way to curb the speculation, which is why Li, like other twentysomethings, has hired a fake partner through an online agency.

“My parents want me to get married by 30,” the office worker explained. “Bringing a ‘boyfriend’ back home simply means I get less hassle from relatives and my parents will stop worrying about my romantic life.”

Li will pay him between 500 and 700 yuan £51-£72 a day – they are still haggling – to accompany her from Beijing to Hunan to meet her parents.

“I don’t need him to stay long, just one night, New Year‘s Eve, and he can just say work is busy and he has to go back the next day, like [the guy I hired] last year,” she said.

via New year, new fake partners for China’s young singletons with parents to please | World news | guardian.co.uk.

Strange Random Matchmaking Quote:

“What the world really needs is more love and less paperwork.” – Pearl Bailey

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• Rhodri Marsden: A dating ad for singletons who have been there and done that (independent.co.uk)
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• Swanky Rooms Sales Figures Show Singletons are Buying Sexy Furniture on a Budget (prweb.com)
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Valentine’s Day Playlist at TubeRadio.fm

Playlist Editor - Discography Tab - Home Page

It’s a combination of YouTube, iTunes and Spotify – TubeRadio.fm lets you search YouTube for your favourite artists or by song title, then make a playlist and if you like, share it with other users or on Facebook or Twitter. One of the great features is that you can look up the discography of a particular group,  add albums to your playlist and have TubeRadio find all the songs it can.

You can try out TubeRadio directly from the site, but you need to register (for free) if you want to save your playlists. There’s a very useful video that shows you how to get started in 5 minutes or less.

Our first effort is here – http://www.tuberadio.fm/?pl=3272567 – a short Valentine’s Day mix. Well, actually, it’s a few different versions of My Funny Valentine, but you get the idea…

Strange Random Valentine’s Day Quote:

What the world really needs is more love and less paperwork. – Pearl Bailey