China's Life Stand-ins Boom: Young Hire Stand-ins
Young people in China hire life stand-ins for Lego building, queueing, trash disposal, and visiting parents, driving the stand-in economy.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Young Chinese hire life stand-ins to handle daily chores and errands.
- Service fees range from dozens to thousands of yuan based on complexity.
- Offerings span from Lego building and trash removal to hospital visits.
- Economists view this as an extension of the lazy economy in China.
Those who watched the movie Rental Family earlier this year might have wondered if the profession of renting family members or surrogate livers actually exists in the real world. The answer is affirmative, and it is rapidly growing into a major trend in China, where a significant number of young people choose to pay life stand-ins to manage tasks they lack the time or willingness to handle themselves.
This emerging trend is known as the stand-in economy, which has been expanding steadily among time-poor individuals willing to pay for convenience. Chinese media outlets began reporting on this phenomenon widely starting in 2024, after which it evolved into a large-scale errand market offering customized services tailored to the specific demands of individual customers.
The most prominent example is assembly and handicraft services. Posts regarding hiring assistants for item assembly on the RedNote platform have accumulated over 120 million total views. Some users purchase complex Lego sets but lack the time to build them, prompting them to hire professionals either to assemble the toys at home or through mail delivery, with rates generally ranging from 200 to 1,000 yuan based on time and difficulty.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
Low-skill yet time-consuming tasks have also found a ready market. On secondhand trading and errand platforms, users pay between 10 and 30 yuan to hire individuals to wait in line at popular restaurants. Meanwhile, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, a woman named Mihan started offering neighbor trash collection services for 3 yuan per trip or a 99 yuan monthly subscription, acquiring over 20 clients within three days before expanding to parcel collection and cat-feeding during holidays.
- Hiring private cooks in Shenzhen for 2,500 yuan per month
- Offering arguing stand-in services for dispute resolution
- Visiting hospital patients on behalf of busy relatives
- Caring for and cooking with elderly residents for a fee
Errand services have ventured into unconventional territories as well. A man in Guangzhou gained online attention by promoting an arguing stand-in service on the streets, charging 50 yuan for online disputes and 188 yuan for in-person negotiations with unlimited attempts. Kong emphasized that his approach relies on persuasion through reason rather than aggression, strictly declining jobs involving threats, debt collection, or physical force.
The rise of the stand-in economy in China reflects a broader societal shift where urban time holds greater value than money. While these services solve immediate efficiency problems and create new employment models, they also raise critical philosophical questions about whether outsourcing everyday frictions deprives individuals of genuine life experiences and personal engagement.
Li Na, an associate professor at the School of Finance and Economics at Jimei University, noted in media interviews that such services help enhance consumer efficiency and quality of life while creating novel employment forms. Nevertheless, most transactions remain peer-to-peer agreements, raising ongoing concerns regarding fraud, privacy violations, and the difficulty of seeking recourse when services fall short of expectations.
Source: Techsauce
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