Illustration: Peter C. Espina/GT

Single Chinese dread the national holidays. "When will you get married" haunts bachelors during the entire holiday. Parents and relatives will not miss any chance to ask after their relationship status, especially as the dreaded 30 approaches.

The heavy social pressure to marry early in China has forced many singletons to bring home temporary boyfriends or girlfriends as contingencies to deal with their pushy families. In the past, they invited friends or colleagues as "partners." But a social trend is now becoming a growing business. Apps allowing you to rent a temporary boyfriend/girlfriend, usually a complete stranger, are booming. The upcoming Spring Festival, as expected, will see a surge of rented partners, each of whom is priced from hundreds of yuan to thousands of yuan for a day.

The apps are easy to use. It's free to browse through basic information of other users, for instance, photos, occupations, salaries, constellations, but have to pay for their contact numbers if they want further communication. These apps offer all-round and optional accompanying services, including meeting parents, traveling, watching a movie and even cleaning rooms, all at varying prices. The apps claim to carefully police ads to make sure none of the other implied benefits of having a boyfriend or girlfriend are available.

Hailed as a revolutionary tool to liberate "lonely dogs," a sarcastic nickname for bachelors, from over-caring parents and relatives, these apps have only worsened the notoriety of China's "marry early or you die alone" culture. And now single people feel even worse about their failure to find a mate.

But there's nothing wrong with being single. In fact, topics about marriage and singledom, with click-bait headlines such as "Seven ways to get you into a relationship," do not deserve so much attention in media and public opinion. Their popularity comes from conformity to a specific lifestyle, which might not be suitable for everyone. Family will and social pressure have prevented people from making the choices best for them.

Renting a stranger home brings a number of safety risks as well. Everyone can register on the rental apps, filling out their personal information at random. And there is no effective way to prove their authenticity. Some even upload pictures of stars as their headshots to get more attention. Even though these apps are connected with the police ID system and demand their users to register under their real names, it is still highly risky, as some blind-date websites are still failing to screen out frauds.

More importantly, hiring a fake girlfriend or boyfriend in a bid to please parents will only harm their feelings. The likelihood for a pretend girlfriend or boyfriend becoming a real partner remains quite low. Parents prefer to see their children remain single rather than being cheated by a fake potential son or daughter-in-law. Instead of renting a pretend partner home, singletons should be honest with their families.

Above all, being single in your 30s is nothing to be ashamed of. Being afraid of being "leftovers" will only make things worse. Apart from the safety risks, taking a fake partner home is a selfish behavior as well.