A Unique Online Service: Why Do Young Chinese Shop For Dates?

No, it is not a joke. Taobao becomes relevant on so many levels in Chinese lives that even buying a date online is possible. So how and why do you shop for a date on a retail platform?

While living in China, I heard from my Chinese friends about this strange shopping phenomenon that you can order a date online, and as usual, I was the only one surprised (though at this point I was already used to this feeling). I asked for an explanation to try and understand the reasons that led up to it. Now, Imagine yourselves this moment before the year’s most special day, Christmas, Passover, Ramadan or any other important day in your religion or country. Imagine that you are alone without a date that day. Well, for most of us it is not such a huge deal but for Chinese people, it matters a whole lot, but why?

For starters, the Chinese Spring Festival is the most important Holiday in Chinese culture. It is a long holiday and is the breaking point of the year because it takes place usually around the end of January- mid -February. Also, it is the reason for the biggest human migration in the world.

Chinese youngsters are usually studying in different cities from which they grew up in, and after their graduation, most likely they will get married and work in a different city. Usually, at least one side of each couple will live in a place that he or she is not originally from. Many times, a couple can also be from the same village but chooses to live in the city. Anyway, on spring festival, they all go back home, and it is also one of the few times they do.

If I would come back home after an entire year of not seeing my parents, I would probably expect to receive a big hug from them and maybe little questioning about my life, just to keep being updated. Apparently, it is a whole other story for Chinese people when they come back home.

Chinese family culture is a bit strict, and I can say that I rarely saw expressions of affection between family members (in my standards). For a Chinese family, when you come back home, you must present your achievements in the last year, and they must be things that your parents will consider as achievements. My friends explained to me that “some people are 25-26 years old or above, and they can’t face coming back home alone without a date, so they go on TaoBao and just ‘buy’ a date for the spring festival simply as a result of a huge amount of pressure, there are usually no sexual intentions behind it”.

Apparently, a man or a woman who come home with no boyfriend/girlfriend to present, will be considered strange, out of line or lose his/her track in life. Even saying you are in a relationship will not cut it, if you did not bring him/her home, they simply do not exist!

One of my friends, explained it to me saying that in China, the interaction between parents and children is very corrective. “We are all a part of a mission; we are not here to have fun. You study all your life until you graduate from university at the age of 22 or 24 in case you also did master’s degree, and then you must marry as soon as possible. Not only you have to get married; you should do it with an equal to your social status women or man”.

The early life of Chinese is super stressful. They study 12 hours a day, no gap between high school and college, no traveling after graduation. Instead, there are a lot of expectations and duties you must comply to.

Therefore, there are many 25 years old and up, which come home after a year away from home, and they are worried from the fact that they did not bring anyone to introduce to their parents, so they turn to a simple solution online.

The procedure is very easy and is similar to any other transaction made online. For instance, if you are happened to be unsatisfied from your instant date, you can claim for a refund or on the contrary, high rate him/her if you are happy with the service. Unfortunately, in modern China, the young generation is pretty lonely, and it is no wonder that in the progressive digital era, their problem solver was TaoBao which simply answered a demand.

Recently, Taobao restricted this service and now it is less available in China as it used to, but nevertheless the need still exists. In any case, the option to buy a date, is answering just one of many other demands, which together emphasize the power of online platforms and the huge potential in this market.

Tamir Nahmias is an International Business Development Manager and Co-Founder of ICBB group.

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