Xiong Wei, the young owner of a "virtual lover" store Photo: Cui Meng/GT

Money may not be able to buy love, but it can buy you an untouchable online lover for a few days at a time. Typing "virtual lover" into a Chinese search engine reveals hundreds of online stores on taobao.com offering this type of service. 

The price for this online romance is fairly reasonable, even for students. A one-hour experience costs only one yuan ($0.16) at some stores, while services for an entire 24-hour day only runs 20-50 yuan. "Service products" are usually described by different types of characteristics: adorable doll-like girls, gentle sister-like girls and aggressive queen-like women, or sunshine boys, shy boys and mature men. Customers can select their preferred type, or even ask for a "customized" service provider.

The so-called "untouchable" part of the service refers to the distance between customers and their virtual lovers. They can communicate through social media services such as QQ or WeChat, and by using text or voice, but the service does not permit any form of offline contact.

Virtual boom

"Our service is about keeping people company. We refer to it as a 'virtual lover,' but what we actually offer are different ways for our customers to communicate. Our customer service staff will first interview customers to see what they are looking for. For those who are just curious, we just make sure they enjoy their time spent with our staff. As for those who were hurt by a previous relationship and need someone to get them out of their bad mood, we treat them gently and help them get over things," Xiong Wei, a virtual lover store owner, told the Global Times.

Xiong, 26, began building his virtual lover store in September, posting on his Weibo account to recruit a part-time virtual lover team. This post was soon widely forwarded on Weibo, being reposted more than 10,000 times in several days and gaining more than 4,000 comments. Xiong told the Global Times that he received over 2,000 messages inquiring into the part-time job.

So what about the customers that spend money on this service? Xiong explained that virtual boyfriends actually sell much better than virtual girlfriends, a fact that surprises him. When he first hired his team he made sure he had the same number of male and female employees, even including gay employees. According to Xiong's numbers it seems that young female customers have greater demand, or at least are more curious, when it comes to this type of online service.

One of these young women, Zhouwu, shared her online experience with the Global Times. "I paid for it because I was curious and it was really cheap. Chatting until late at night, it felt like I was talking with one of my friends."

Some people have even discovered some of the "perks" that come from using the service. Some students buy "intelligent-type" virtual lovers for use as a tutor, which can end up actually being cheaper than a real home tutor.

Others are using the service as a way to experience something they would never have in real life.

"I went and bought seven virtual boyfriends at once," said one user who wished to remain anonymous. "I wanted to know what it was like to have my own harem." 

Reality and fiction

Although these chats with virtual lovers can feel like a real relationship, it is still a fiction; something that Xiong doesn't want his customers to forget. "People can ask for the same person, but the longest time for service is no longer than seven days," said Xiong, explaining that too much contact with the same person may lead to customers becoming too dependent on the service and make it difficult for them to tell the difference between the virtual world and reality.

When asked if he was worried that such a short time period would lead to a loss of customers, Xiong answered: "I don't expect to keep them long-term. I just hope our service can help them out of a bad mood. We are providing this service to support and help them."

Xiong emphasized that his store had a number of rules in place to protect the privacy and safety of staff and customers: Neither side is allowed to leave personal contact information or exchange photos. Certain topics are also off limits. "If our staff report that one of their clients mentioned any erotic topics or used any sexually implicit words during their time, we will immediately stop providing service and ban this customer," said Xiong.

Staff are similarly held to a strict code of conduct. Just this past Thursday, Xiong posted on his Weibo that he had fired a male employee after his female clients reported that he had asked them out for sex.

A quick search online reveals there are numerous other people like Xiong posting want ads online in order to build their own teams. As it stands now, this is a young market, and no official regulations have been drawn up to regulate it. Anybody can work for these companies, as virtual staff do not require any previous professional training or background in psychology.

In an interview with the Xinhua News Agency, Li Ping, director of a psychology training school in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, pointed out that these virtual relationships can provide a type of social support. However, since these virtual lovers have not received any professional training, they could end up harming themselves or their customers. In the end Li feels it's better for someone to seek professional help in real life for their problems instead of trying to avoid problems by escaping in a virtual world.