It's like watching the movie Titanic, says paid 'boyfriend'

Jia Haolin, 22, has been a "boyfriend" to more than 3,000 people over the past five years, most of them women.

But that does not make him the most popular bachelor in China. Instead, it has discouraged him from committing to a relationship over this period of time, a situation likely to continue in the near future.

Jia, arguably the country's best-known and expensive "virtual boyfriend", said, "It's like watching the movie Titanic every day and witnessing the disasters of a shipwreck again and again. One becomes terrified to be on board the ship."