Why aren’t Chinese women dating? They are … with girl cosplayers playing their ideal men

Hand-holding, hotpot and a romantic walk with your man. In China, it’s a perfect date – as long as the man in question is a female cosplayer

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Cosplayer Xu Yunting (right), dressed as a male character from a video game, and client Feng Xinyu during a “cos commissioning” date in Shanghai. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:45pm, 6 Sep 2024

During her final years of high school, Chinese teenager Xu Yunting found an unusual way to make some pocket money – transforming herself into male video game characters and taking their female devotees on dates.

The trend, called “cos commissioning”, has gained traction in China recently, with social media posts garnering millions of views as an increasing number of young women use their purchasing power to engineer a meeting with their dream man in real life.

One early morning in Shanghai last month, Xu carefully inserted contacts to enlarge her irises and adjusted a tangerine wig to transform into “Jesse”, a character from the romance quest mobile game Light and Night.

A tall and sensitive musician, he is one of five characters that woo players throughout the game – and for client Feng Xinyu, a vivacious 19-year-old, the ideal partner.

Cosplayer Xu Yunting applies make-up to transform into Jesse, a character from a romance quest mobile game. Photo: AFP

“I don’t have a boyfriend because I’m not interested in 3D men,” said Feng, using a term for real-life men as opposed to those on the page or screen.