This is so real, it hurts . . . girlfriends hired to stop nagging:

Agencies in China’s Chengdu city are offering rented girlfriends to bachelors who need someone to show off to relatives during the coming Chinese Lunar New Year, state press reported today. “Love agencies are springing up in Chengdu offering an invaluable service for those men whose parents are nagging them to settle down,” the China West Metropolitan News reported. A hired girlfriend can cost as much as 300 yuan ($46) a day, one-third of may Chinese workers’ monthly salary, the paper reported. A man named Yue, 31, said he planned to rent someone to take home because his parents were nagging him to find a “nice girl and raise their grandchildren”. Although Yue was “just trying to be a good son”, civil affairs officials and sociologists have come out firmly against such services, the paper said.

Am I missing something but is there something terribly wrong with the reasoning of these guys? I mean if you want to be a good son, why are you lying to your parents? You’re not actually doing what they want you to do nor are you being honest . . . you’re just trying to get out of having the balls to tell them to mind their own business. Form does not equal substance.