China's 'dazi' companion dating goes gray: paid setups, bar touts, coded companionship

[Gossip / dating culture] Baidu's realtime board resurfaced 'dazi companion dating / gray trade'. This recap sticks to the Yangcheng Evening News 'Fisheye' investigation series and a Workers' Daily commentary carried by China News on Oct 14, 2026.

What 'dazi' was supposed to be: temporary companions for a meal, trip, or shopping trip — light ties that lower social cost without long-term upkeep.

What reporters found: paid group setups that screen looks and charge entry; 'meal' or 'travel' companions who steer people into pricey bars or tour packages and then flake; and 'local guide / companion' posts whose comment threads use coded labels such as 'pure green / half green / non-green'. Undercover quotes in the investigation include roughly ¥100/hour for hand-holding/hugs and ~¥300/hour and up for physical-contact services via off-platform brokers. Those are the reporters' findings, not our verification, and we do not name or link any account.

Why it is hard to police: fast-changing slang, public-to-private funnels, and matrix accounts. The commentary urges platforms to move from keyword filters to behavior detection and to escalate fraud or organized-prostitution leads.

Platform response: the short-video platform told follow-up reporters it bans sexual solicitation and off-platform diversion, deleted some posts/comments, and said it would keep auditing; later checks still found coded comments.

Not covered here: how-tos, slang cheat-sheets, 'safe companion' tips, or anyone not named in the reports.