Non-conforming bevahiour never fails to attract attention. All over the world, the tradition is to meet a partner, engage in a period of courting, get married and have children. So when one or more stages is skipped, prying questions are asked as people try to compute what is going on: “When's it going to be your turn, then?”, “Is that the pitter-patter of tiny feet I hear?” and so on. Such patriarchal, and heteronormative, assumptions fail to consider the possibility that some people don't want any of that, or maybe only want part of it, or they do want it, but not in the same way as everyone else.
We may feel the shadow of the patriarchal jackboot looming above us here in Scotland, it is but the merest of tickles compared to life in China. Young people in China are expected to marry in their 20s and such is that pressure to 'settle down', many are now resorting to hiring fake partners take home. A 'beau' can cost up 700 yuan (£72) with the negotiable add-ons such as doing chores and drinking with the relatives. The practice has now become so widespread that a film, Contract Lover, and a hit TV drama, Renting a Girlfriend to Return Home for New Year have been made.
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| The happy couple |
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