Mistresses need connections, too

• Source: Global Times
• [10:06 July 23 2010]
• Comments

By Ni Dandan

Local campus communities contend that connections are the most valuable resources for mistresses shopping around for high-rolling clients, denying that the use of a formal agency is common practice for female college students seeking to earn a wage outside lecture halls.

The claims from students and faculty advisors come days after a pricing list from an online agency, which supposedly links clients and young mistresses, was leaked online on Tuesday. Young ladies from a dozen universities in the city were listed on offer, starting at prices upwards of 20,000 yuan ($2,950) per year, and capping out at some 500,000 yuan ($73,770) per year.

According to a female college student surnamed Dong, who will start as a senior theatre major in the fall at Shanghai Normal University, the mistresses at her school tend to be well-connected with the upper-classes of society.

"The ones who work as mistresses usually study film, theatre, or television," she said. "They have lots of opportunities to meet rich or influential people."

She estimated that about 10 percent of the girls within her faculty work the job part-time.

"It's an open secret that everyone knows," she added. "They spend their money on fashionable sports cars and luxury brand name bags."

Meanwhile, a director of student affairs at Shanghai International Studies University, who asked not to be named, said that college girls at his school have for years been employed as part-time mistresses.

"A lot of the students attend vocational schools affiliated with our university," he told the Global Times Thursday. "These students tend to be more outgoing, and go out of their way to meet the kind of people who are looking to hire them."

The Global Times Thursday failed to reach a man surnamed Ye, who is in charge of the agency that issued the pricing list, as the mobile phone number provided on the list had no service Thursday.

But another man in his 30s, who owns his own mistress, confirmed similar details to the Global Times Thursday.