Dongguan, where you can have 3 girlfriends at the same time!

[Pokarface]

Hello! So I found this article and started wondering if it's real. Anyone from Dongguan that can tell us what really happens over there?

 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/peoplesdaily/article-3219690/Welcome-sex-capital-China-Inside-sin-city-s-normal-one-man-girlfriends-pay-carry-dating-them.html

 

Some quotes from the article that sound funny:

 

"In Dongguan, southern China, a man with several girlfriends who pay to 'keep' him is now the norm, reported People's Daily Online."

 

"It would be too embarrassing for someone to have just one girlfriend. Everyone will laugh at him."

-Xiao Lin

 

"Women who share a boyfriend are said to lavish attention and money on the men in order to become the favourite."

 

It seems that the social pressure of getting married before your 30's and having more women than men in Dongguan, makes this article more credible. I'm just wondering, does this trend only run among factory workers (and possibly ex-prostitutes since this was known as the prostitution capital in China) or also between educated/professional Chinese women in the city? I'm assuming many professional women don't settle in that city due to the previous reputation it had and they might not like the idea of "sharing" a boyfriend with a factory worker(s)   

[Lu]

I can fully believe Dongguan men having more than one girlfriend. You don't need to go all the way to Dongguan to find that. I also fully believe the story of the woman who supports her boyfriend financially, and I think you don't need to go all the way to Dongguan for that either. If your guy has less money, it's only kind to support him. Couples sharing a room and going out to give each other privacy also doesn't sound all that alien. I believe the same happens in American dorms, although there it's not couples but just boys/girls sharing rooms.

 

But I don't believe the 'sharing' of men and those photos don't convince me. The first (guy with car and two girls): perhaps, or he just paid them both, or took them for an outing, or the boyfriend of one of them is taking the picture. But the second is 1 man-1 woman, the third seems just some drunk guy hugging two bridesmaids, and that boy with the four girls looks more like a bunch of friends hanging out - note how all the girls look at each other/into their group while the guy is on the outside. That leaves the guy holding hands with two girls and the guy in bed with two girls. There could be all kinds of explanations for that and anyway two pictures is not the same as a trend. Until they interview a woman who knows she's sharing her man and with whom, I don't believe any of it.

 

And is the thing about having to be married by 27 really such a problem? I thought women would pick someone from back home if it didn't happen for them in the city.

 

All in all, what it looks like to me is a combination of gender imbalance and men keeping mistressed being pretty normal and accepted. Well stop the presses. China truly is a crazy place.

[Demonic_Duck]

People's Daily and Daily Mail are both known for sensationalism and low journalistic standards. Agree with Lu's general sentiment.

 

Also, in the picture with a man and two women in bed, there's another guy in the picture! He's just mostly cut out. Looks like he's playing on the computer in the background. Not quite sure how they failed to notice that, but it makes their caption look pretty idiotic.

[Shelley]

Sounds like a dream that could all too easily turn into a nightmare once the honeymoon is over.

 

Imagine 3 women nagging you to take the garbage out and cut the grass and and and ....

[dwq]

Well, at least if they get bored, they have enough players for mahjong...

[sunluosi]

I used to live there and never really seemed like that to me or maybe I was just too stupid to realise...

 

I knew of men working in the city away from home having a girlfriend in Dongguan, with the wife back at home. But never of men having more than 1 girlfriend in Dongguan.

[stapler]

I spent a few weeks living in the housing for the factory workers in Dongguan. Seems like everywhere else in China (except the population is much younger). Didn't really notice people having more than one partner. I'd say having multiple partners is quite exceptional in Dongguan, like all of China..... But I guess this observation wouldn't really help sell tabloid news.

 

What is true is that it's hard for a women to be 27 and unmarried. Hence why most women in Dongguan are married by their early 20s - again, perhaps like almost all of China.

[Chris Two Times]

Three girlfriends at the same time?

 

Bah! Tis child's play.

 

The real playahs have more.

 

Ah...Dongguan. Ah...China.

 

Many thanks for posting this, Pokarface. Very interesting topic.

 

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times

[Demonic_Duck]

@Chris Two Times: Your username would suggest you only have two. Seems like you're lagging behind.

[Chris Two Times]

All work and no play these days/daze makes Chris Two Times a dull boy in the playah department (only two! one for Friday night and one for Saturday night--it's back to work the rest of the week  ).

 

Well, I am a 北京人 and not a 东莞机器 so I just have to be content with my lot in life and roll wit' it.

 

Haha, nice one, Demonic_Duck. +1 for you. 

 

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times

[roddy]

Journo: Hey, editor, I've noticed this interesting social phenomena I'd like to do a piece on...

Editor: Cool, Find the most extreme and unrepresentative examples then focus on them to the exclusion of all else. 

 

 

Dongguan's a factory city, women are often preferred for assembly line work, shortage of men, men can get away with more. 

[L-F-J]

None of those pictures are particularly convincing of the story they're painting...

 

"Sex capital of China" refers to the prostitution rings there.

 

A "girlfriend" in Dongguan = prostitute.

3 "girlfriends" in Dongguan = expensive night.

3 "girlfriends" paying "boyfriend" in Dongguan = pimp collecting his money.

[Susu]

This is basically racism through ignorance.

 

Fortunately there is some sanity in this world... the latest comment on it says "If anyone actually believes this story, I would like to sell you some oceanfront property in Florida." 

[realmayo]

The Chinese are being racist about themselves? It's a People's Daily article! :)

Mailonline appears to have a dedicated 'channel'. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Qin+Xie+For+Mailonline

[studychinese]

Buying ticket to Dongguan now.