If you were looking for something a bit different this Christmas, you could have placed a bid on renting a boyfriend for the holiday, with an iPad thrown in for the successful bidder.

An advertisement placing a Christmas boyfriend up for auction was posted on Dec 12 on Taobao.com, China's largest online marketplace, and proved to be a success with netizens, who were willing to spend 5,450 yuan (US$820) on having a go.

The advertisement offered the opportunity to enjoy a Christmas date with 22-year-old Liu Shijie in Beijing and receive an iPad worth 3,000 yuan, along with a round-trip airfare and accommodation.

"Liu is one of my good friends who also owns an online cosmetic store. We made a bet over dinner whether he could be sold online for more than 5,000 yuan," said Yu Jinhua, who posted the advertisement.

During the nine-day period in which bidding was open, Yu and Liu received hundreds of inquiries from women across the country seeking further details about the Christmas boyfriend on offer.

In the end, the winning bid surprised everyone, including Liu, who said he was "shocked by the result". It was a married man from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

The winner, 28-year-old Jin Xinxin, said he, too, was surprised to have won the auction after placing a 6,000 yuan bid as his limit.

He explained that the novelty of the ad had initially caught his attention and he is going ahead with his Christmas date because he is interested in becoming friends with Liu.

"I want to open an online cosmetic store and I need some advice from people like Yu and Liu," he said. "It will be worthwhile to fly to Beijing to make two new friends and take an iPad back home with me."

(China Daily December 24, 2010)