China’s lonely-heart crisis fuels a growing ‘companionship economy’

China’s single population is increasingly turning to various forms of paid companionship – from chatting with strangers online to virtual role-playing games. - Photo: AFP

BEIJING: In China, young people are increasingly using social media to not only connect with friends, but to pay strangers to talk with them.

As society becomes more atomised, users on the social platform Xiaohongshu have begun using the hashtag “companion chat” to find others willing to buy or sell a few minutes of human conversation.