Single women in China are renting fake boyfriends to appease their pushy parents during family gatherings.

Demands for rent-by-day boyfriends have peaked as the Lunar New Year, the most important holiday in the Chinese tradition, is less than two weeks away.

The price for a pretend partner can run up to £180 per day and services on offer range from meeting parents to staying the night.

The profile of a male candidate usually state his age, height, weight and occupation. Above is a screen shot from 89yn.com, one of the websites that rent out boyfriends

The candidates also state their services, such as meeting the parents and watching films. Above is a screen shot from 20py.com, another website that rents out boyfriends

A Chinese woman posted an advertisement on a Chinese website looking for a fake boyfriend to meet her parents in Anhui province during Lunar New Year

'Rent a boyfriend' is a trending keyword on most Chinese search engines, as well as online shopping site Taobao.

Chinese rental websites offering male candidates include 89yn.com and 20py.com. The men's profiles usually state their age, height, weight and occupation.

They also state the services they are willing to provide.

According to a report on People's Daily online, rental princes are up to 60 yuan (£7.13) per hour or 1,500 yuan (£178) per day.

Some male candidates offer free service as they say to have no one to spend the holidays with anyway.

Chinese women rent boyfriends from the internet to deal with marriage pressure (file photo)

The pretend partner can meet the parents and have dinner with them (file photo)

The list of services are flexible and are mainly decided by the men.

They can include meeting the parents, having dinners with them, watching films, kissing and spending the night.

Some men require the women to pay for all the expenses, including the train tickets and meals.

To attract more customers, some candidates offer what they call a 'green lease' , which is an agreement signed by both parties to make sure there are no grey-areas or violation of rules.

'Green lease' holders are not allowed to sleep with the woman in the same room.

The Chinese tradition often see marriage in a very high priority and single women aged 27 and over are considered as Shengnu, the 'leftover women'.

On the hunt: This is Shanghai's marriage market where parents question each other on their children's income and prospects to decide whether they are marriage material for their kids

Concerns: Parents worry their daughters won't marry in time to have children and post their resumes on the line in the hope that boys' parents will take an interest

Some Chinese single men see that as a chance to earn quick money and rent themselves out to the desperate women and soon it becomes a trend.

Single women also see it as a way to stop their parents pestering them about their love life and pressuring them to have babies.

Li Hongzhao, vice secretary of Criminal Law Committee of Beijing Law Association, told a reporter from People's Daily Online the rental agreement could be considered as a legally binding contract as long as both parties performed what was stated on the agreement.

However, Li added that there could be violations of laws if one party had an indecent intention. Li said that could lead to sexual assault.