27岁西莉亚有一份自己的事业,至今未婚,这似乎听起来很正常,但许多中国人并不这么看,在他们眼里,女人必须在三十岁之前结婚,像西莉亚这样27岁以后还没嫁出去的就叫“剩女”。已经步入27岁的李小姐,已经被贴上了“剩女”的标签(Xi Liya has reached the age at which unmarried women in China are labelled "sheng nv" or "leftover women")。
It's a stigma that carries deep ramifications within her social life, workplace and especially among her family. But with a blossoming career in Beijing, she has no desire to get married.
There's a new and booming business in China - Boyfriend Rentals. Many women in China are pressured to get married whenever they go home and visit their parents. That is why you can now rent boyfriends online to bring home during the holidays to keep the relatives quiet.
In search of a solution that staves off the marital pressures, she decides to commit the ultimate deception: She hires a handsome boyfriend in Beijing to take home to meet her family and friends.
"He is too tall and too handsome for you," her mother said. "You need a shorter and more plain man". It seemed a bit harsh.
“他对你来说太高而且也太帅了,你应该找一个更矮一点、看起来可靠一点的。”
这年头男友出租这个行业也不好做……表示长的太帅带回家会被爹妈嫌弃……
“假男友”Sean Lee Baker是如此澄清的:
Well, let me start by explaining that being a fake boyfriend isn't my day job. I'm actually an events producer. I knew Celia through a mutual friend. It was the two of them who came up with the idea of her renting a boyfriend in order to alleviate some of the pressure her parents were placing on her to marry.
I had been starting to regret coming to the city of Harbin, in northeastern China. Fooling Celia's parents into thinking I was her boyfriend suddenly didn't seem like such a good idea.