‘Act cute, but nothing sexually explicit’: inside the world of China’s online hostesses
Women can make huge money chatting to mainly lonely younger men on internet sites
In the world of online hostessing in China, men find virtual company and the women can find riches.
Student Xiao Yue, 21, spends four hours most days chatting online with fans who shower her with virtual roses and other presents.
She is one of more than 10,000 hostesses on the internet site Bobo.com, a live broadcasting web platform where anyone can record themselves singing, playing piano, dancing or just chatting.
The hostesses are predominantly singers, playing to an audience that is 90 per cent male and mostly between the ages of 20 and 35. Acting cute is okay. Anything explicitly sexual is not.
Xiao Yue’s speciality is to sajiao, a very Chinese type of flirting characterised by the woman acting in a cutesy childlike manner and speaking in a whiny voice. She puts on little dance mime routines one minute, seductively eats strawberries the next.
In return, users show their appreciation by sending her virtual gifts, which can be worth as much as thousands of yuan.