On the stone steps of Mount Tai, one of China’s best-known peaks, hikers can book “climbing buddies” to walk with them, carry bags and take photos for a few hundred yuan.

The increasingly popular service is part of a broader “companionship economy” emerging in China, which includes paid partners for running, sightseeing and even eating out at hotpot restaurants – a meal traditionally shared with friends.

Providers, often students or young gig workers, advertise on social media with promises of “emotional value”, conversation and practical help, turning what was once a favour among friends into a bookable, payable service.

While there is no official data on the companion economy’s size, estimates cited by state media put it at around 50 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) in 2025.

Why Young Chinese Are Buying Belonging

The trend reflects broader shifts in China’s urban lifestyles.

Researchers and state media describe growing demand for “emotional consumption” as young people live farther from family, face longer working hours and struggle to maintain traditional social ties.

China’s prolonged youth unemployment has coincided with, and contributed to, a growing reliance on gig work, as graduates turn to delivery, ride-hailing and other platform work in the absence of stable jobs.

Official data shows China has more than 200 million so-called flexible workers.

Paying For Company

After leaving the army in 2022, Chen Wenxin founded a hiking-companion company focused on eastern Shandong province.

“I noticed rising demand in the hiking escort service, then decided to try my hand in the field,” Chen said.

His team has grown from fewer than 10 workers to about 370. The company charges 800 yuan ($116) for daytime climbs on Mount Tai.

Psychotherapist Sami Wong, managing director of research firm 3Drips Psychology, said the appeal of paid companions is partly about certainty and control in a social environment that can feel high-effort and high-risk.

Meeting people requires emotional labour, she said, and “the outcome is very uncertain,” which creates anxiety. Paid companionship helps customers avoid rejection.

“When you pay for this service, you always get a ‘yes’,” Wong said.

Tang Junxing, 24, a university student in Guilin, earns pocket money as a travel companion – a side gig that began when a professor asked him to drive her on a week-long road trip.

“That’s when I realised you can make money by accompanying people on trips,” he said.

Tang typically earns 3,000 to 5,000 yuan a month. “Most of my clients are women and their core need is emotional value, someone who makes them feel good and makes the trip easy,” he said.

(with input from Reuters)