During her final years of high school, Chinese teenager Xu Yunting found a unique way to earn some pocket money – she transformed herself into male video game characters and took their female followers out on dates.
The trend, called “cos commissioning”, has recently become very popular in China, with posts garnering millions of views on social media as a growing number of young women use their purchasing power to meet the man of their dreams in real life.
One morning in Shanghai last month, Xu carefully put on contact lenses to enlarge her pupils and adjusted an orange wig to transform into “Jessie,” a character in the romance quest mobile game “Light and Night.”
A tall and sensitive musician, he is one of five characters who woo players throughout the game – and the perfect companion for customer Feng Xinyu, a vivacious 19-year-old.
“I don’t have a boyfriend because I’m not interested in 3D men,” Feng told AFP, using the term to describe real-life men, not those on the page or screen.
“I like anime characters a bit more, they’re cuter to me.”
Created by tech giant Tencent and aimed at young women, “Light and Night” promises “a new interactive experience of highly intense love.”
Players like Feng, who form strong emotional connections with characters in such games, are known as “dream girls” – and that’s because commissioning takes immersion to the next level by bringing those 2D beauties off the screen and into the real world.
Feng had assigned this task to Xu twice before, for a fee of about $70.
Last month, he spent $2,800 on a multi-day trip to a different province with another JC cosplayer.
But she decided she liked Xu’s portrayal better and hired him for the third date.
“We really match each other,” Feng said.
“She’s just like the character in that game, it’s like we were meant to be together.”
‘Deconstructing gender norms’
Feng was waiting for Xu at the subway station and smiled happily when she saw him.
The two were seen holding each other’s hands, chatting happily and proceeding for their first activity.
Their date – which was entirely planned and paid for by Feng – lasted the entire day, starting with tea and ending with a hotpot meal and a romantic walk.
The doll-painting workshops and cake-decorating classes they attended were just some of the many Coss commissions couples received.
Staff at the business told AFP they have seen an increasing number of couples visiting them over the past year – sometimes dozens on busy days.
Experts who study the phenomenon say part of its allure is that it offers young women a way to model idealized heterosexual relationships.
Conservative social attitudes towards women are still widely prevalent in China, often reinforced by state-run media and popular culture.
In addition to addressing safety concerns, hiring a female cosplayer ensures a level of equality and understanding that isn’t necessarily present in real-life relationships.
“I don’t think it matters what the gender of the person being given this responsibility is,” Tian Qian of Fudan University told AFP.
“The important thing is that (the cosplayer) is a medium, because the customer needs a medium for their emotions.”
Another academic, Zhou Jixing, wrote that cos commissioning allows women to “gain a voice that is fully respected by the opposite sex… responding to, subverting, and reconstructing real-world gender norms”.
‘Low quality people’
In the cake decorating class, Feng leaned over the table, lovingly watching Xu apply generous amounts of icing to a sponge cake.
Next, Xu gently helped Feng take off her apron, imitating Jessie’s gentlemanly behavior.
“All the players involved in this game are of quality,” Xu said.
“I think (customers) will be able to refine their requirements in real life about what they want from a man, so that they don’t settle for low-quality men.”
Her mother, Feng Xiuqing, admitted that her first reaction when she found out what Xu was doing was: “How could this happen to my daughter?”
But now she has come in favor of this idea.
“I don’t think it’s a profession, it’s a hobby,” Feng said.
“She gets joy from it and she brings joy to others, too.”
Tian, of Fudan University, said the COS commission could serve as “emotional nourishment.”
“Even though it’s a paid interaction, it still makes you feel like you’re being watched, which has a certain therapeutic effect.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
