Young Chinese Hire Stand-Ins to Cook, Attend Hospital Visits for Parents

Paid workers are increasingly taking over everyday responsibilities for young Chinese consumers, including cooking for elderly parents and attending hospital visits.

The services can also cover errands, awkward moments and even the actual quarrelling that some young people would rather avoid. Together, these services are becoming part of what is known as the “stand-in economy”.

A market built around convenience

The trend is gaining traction among time-strapped consumers who are willing to pay when daily responsibilities exceed their available time, patience or expertise.

The movement was first widely reported by mainland media in 2024 and has since developed into a vast market for highly personalised errand services.

On RedNote, posts about paid handicraft and assembly assistance have received over 120 million views. The activity shows how the market extends beyond household care and routine errands to tasks that require time or specialised effort.

Some users, for example, purchase intricate Lego sets but do not have enough time to assemble them. They instead hire professional builders to complete the construction.

The cost of outsourcing daily life

Outsourcing these mundane tasks can buy people greater freedom, but an online observer warned that it also risks making them relinquish the experience of living. The debate around the stand-in economy therefore concerns not only convenience, but also which ordinary responsibilities people choose to hand over.

Source: South China Morning Post