On the stone steps leading up Mount Tai, one of China’s best-known peaks, hikers can book and pay for “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 an experience or favour among friends into a bookable — and payable — service.
While there is no official data about the size of the companionship economy, estimates cited by state media said it was worth around 50 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) in 2025.
The trend reflects broader shifts in China’s urban lifestyles and service economy. Researchers and state media have described growing demand for “emotional consumption” as young people live and work farther from family networks, face longer working hours and have a harder time maintaining traditional social ties.
China’s prolonged youth unemployment has coincided with — and contributed to — a growing reliance on gig and flexible work among young people, as graduates and job seekers turn to delivery, ride-hailing and other online platform work in the absence of stable jobs. Official data shows China has more than 200 million so-called flexible workers.
After leaving the army in 2022, Chen Wenxin founded a hiking-companion company, with a focus on the eastern province of Shandong.
“I have always been a hiker and have a lot of hiking experience”, Chen said. “I noticed rising demand in the hiking escort service, then decided to try my hand in the field”.
His team has expanded from fewer than 10 workers to about 370 now. He said the company charges 800 yuan ($116) for daytime climbs on Mount Tai, the highest point in Shandong.
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 otherwise feel like a lot of effort and high-risk.
Meeting people requires emotional labour and investment, she said and “the outcome is very uncertain”, which creates anxiety. Paid companionship can help customers avoid the sting of rejection.
“When you pay for this service you always get a ‘yes’”, Wong said.
Tang Junxing, 24, a junior at a university in the southern Chinese city of Guilin, said he earns pocket money as a travel companion. The side gig started when a university professor asked him to be her driver on a week-long road trip.
“That’s when I realised you can actually make money by accompanying people on trips and driving for them”, he said.
Tang said he 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. — Reuters
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