Forget stay-at-home dads. China has a new trend of ‘full-time daughters’: What is it?

We have heard about stay at home wives and even stay-at-home dads, who manage the household while the woman goes out and earns the family’s bread and butter. But what about a ‘full-time daughter’? Yes, that’s right. In China, there’s a woman who’s left her career and opted to become a ‘full-time daughter. And what’s more surprising is that her new effort comes with a salary. Here’s what we know about this new evolving trend in China and what it means for the family unit. ‘A profession filled with love’ Buzz around a full-time daughter emerged after South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported about 40-year-old Nianan and her decision to quit her job and take care of her parents, and be paid for it. The daily said that in 2022, Nianan, who had been working at a news agency for 15 years, was feeling a burnout and heightened levels of stress owing to her job. It was then that her parents told her to quit her job and that they would take care of her financially. What made the offer sound even better was that her parents were offering her a monthly allowance of 4,000 yuan (Rs 46,700 or $565). Motivated by her parents, Nianan quit her job and took on the role of a ‘full-time daughter’, a job that she describes as a “profession filled with love”. So what entails being a full-time daughter? The 40-year-old describes her daily routine and what it means to be a full-time daughter. She explains that in the mornings, she spends an hour dancing with them and accompanying them for grocery shopping. In the evenings, she cooks dinner with her father. Moreover, she is in-charge of all electronic-related issues as well as drives them to and fro from their various destinations. She is also tasked with organising one or two family trips each month. Nianan told the newspaper that while she enjoys this life and it helps in keeping her calm and relaxed; she occasionally still has “the desire to make more money”. Fortunately, if that’s what she wants, her parents have nothing against it. “If you find a more suitable job, you can go for it. If you don’t want to work, just stay at home and spend time with us,” her parents told Nainan, according to the SCMP report. [caption id=“attachment_12661342” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] China job market is increasingly competitive. Image used for representational purposes/Reuters[/caption] Alternative to China’s competitive market Nainan’s decision to adopt a full-time role as a daughter puts the spotlight on China and the pressures of working in the Asian country. Some note that the ‘full-time daughter’ concept could also serve as an alternative for younger people in China who face an increasingly competitive job market and the daily grind of “996”. China has earned a reputation of its long hours known as its 996 culture in which people work 12 hours per day, from 9 am to 9 pm, for six days a week – amounting to a whopping 72 hours per week. This work trend has been endorsed by tech billionaires like Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Richard Liu. However, this trend has been met with criticism for burning out and in some very drastic cases killing employees, forcing China’s top court in 2021 to deem the ‘996 culture’ as illegal. China’s Supreme People’s Court and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security had issued a set of new “model” cases that will guide courts on how to treat workers’ rights in labour disputes, while warning companies over abuse. Besides the ‘996 culture’, China’s job market is extremely competitive, and has been popularised as ‘wolf culture’. As one employee speaking to Tech Crunch explains, “The idea is that if you have everyone in the company competing fiercely with one another, the company will be better at fighting and competing with external threats.” There’s also reports of how China is a big believer in the ‘mattress culture’, which compels overworked employees to sleep in their workplace. And the competition in China has only grown sharper owing to the current economic downturn following the COVID-19 lockdown. In fact, reports have stated that unemployment is soaring in China – with one in five Chinese graduates being jobless, the highest ever level since 2018 when the country began announcing these statistics. Playing House in Japan And while Nianan is happy in her job as ‘full-time daughter’, Japan has an entire rent-a-family business booming. It’s no joke – there’s a company in Japan which allows people to rent a husband or a wife or sister or whichever family member they wish to have. Ishii Yuichi, a Japanese man, began his company known as Family Romance 2010 and in years to come it has gained traction. He says he came up with the idea when he was 24-years-old, after hearing how his friend, a single mother, was having trouble gaining entry to a kindergarten for her child. And now years later, the company receives more than 200 requests for rentals per month. They also boast a 98 per cent satisfaction rate from people that use their services according to their website. Explaining why his company is doing well, he explained to The Atlantic that it helped people copy with unbearable absences or perceived deficiencies in their lives. He added that he saw companies like his only booming owing to the increased isolation in society.

And it seems he is right. Since Family Romance began, there’s a number of rental platforms that have emerged, offering everything from family and friends to funeral guests and dinner dates, with strict protocol specifying the prohibition of intimate acts. People working with these agencies cite that a lack of human connection is the prime reason why these services have become such a recent hit. “There’s an increasing number of young people who don’t know how to socialise because they don’t have the same family setting we had during the postwar era,” Ishii told HiveLife. For him, the purpose of family rental is to, “alleviate people’s suffering from an unreasonable society. It’s not a good thing that this kind of family substitute service exists,” he states. “But it’s needed in our society because it helps people deal with problems that are prevalent in Japan.” With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.