(CRI)
Updated: 2007-08-18 16:08

Qixi Festival, or the Chinese Valentine's Day, is drawing near. Many single young men are racking their brains for ways to spend a sweet Valentine's Day.

If you log onto some of China's popular online forums, you can find posts saying "It's 'Qixi' festival again, it's so lonely to spend this festival on my own." A lot of male netizens want to find girlfriends through online advertisements, either as a temporary partner for the festival or a long-time companion.

A man, nicknamed kuang 0118, is one of them. Unlike other bachelors, Kuang also promised to offer his festival girlfriend an hourly salary of 200 yuan (US$26). In accordance, he also gives the job description: "She should accompany me to dinner, to watch movies and chat with me just like the ordinary lovers do." The generous reward, Kuang says, is to compensate the girl for the time she spends on accompanying him.

However, many female netizens don't buy it and are saying that friendship should be pure, without money as an exchange.

Amid the countless friend-seeking advertisements, many forum administrators give the advice of "Be careful when seeking friends in the cyber space!"