Feel like swearing? Then call!
Source: Xinhua |
August 9, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FEELING furious and need to let off steam? Or maybe you're just depressed and need someone to talk to?
Sounding off to a willing ear is gaining popularity in China with Internet users setting up hundreds of online stores offering to listen to your problems, or even take your abuse.
Log onto online marketplace Taobao.com and punch in the Chinese characters "挨骂" meaning "getting scolded," into the search box, and up will pop 175 service providers offering "stress and depression relief," "recycling rubbish in your soul" or "offering a vent for abreaction."
With charges ranging from 1 yuan (14 US cents) to 500 yuan, such services are selling well. One shopkeeper named Sihai said his service was to "lend an ear to listen to whatever customers want to say, even verbal abuse."
Another shop owner, nicknamed Tiger, classified his services in three categories. The first, and most expensive one, was cursing by phone, which will cost customers 20 yuan for five minutes, excluding phone bills. Once a deal was done, he said customers could contact him about whether they wanted a male or female listener.
"Cursing for a long time is detrimental to one's health, so we make it clear that our services are available only three times a day to each and every customer," he said.
Other less expensive services include cursing on QQ, the instant messaging service, at 10 yuan for five minutes, and swearing through Wangwang, a communication tool connecting retailers and shoppers on Taobao.com, at 0.98 yuan for five minutes.
Tiger said his clients were mainly white-collar employees under enormous pressure. Occasionally, they were housewives confiding their pain after discovering their husbands cheating. "My customers are usually between 20 and 30 and 40 percent are female," he said.
Another shopkeeper, surnamed Li from Jiangsu Province, said: "Some of my clients simply want to take out their anger and stress from work, others are seeking someone to talk to as a way to ease their anxieties.
"It seems to me that they are more open to strangers, but purposely avoid acquaintances such as relatives, friends or colleagues," said Li.
Zhang Hongbo, a psychology professor with Anhui Medical University, attributed the phenomenon to the stressful lives Chinese people are living today and the country's underdeveloped psychological counseling industry.
Zhang said: "Often when people decide to open up, their biggest concern is to protect their privacy. The Internet is convenient and not a bad choice, but only for those who are mildly stressed. For people who have great mental stress, however, this way of cursing out strangers has only limited efficacy."
For professional counseling, he said, people should see psychiatrists. But this was expensive and inconvenient as appointments had to be made and time allowed to become acquainted with counselors.
Sounding off to a willing ear is gaining popularity in China with Internet users setting up hundreds of online stores offering to listen to your problems, or even take your abuse.
Log onto online marketplace Taobao.com and punch in the Chinese characters "挨骂" meaning "getting scolded," into the search box, and up will pop 175 service providers offering "stress and depression relief," "recycling rubbish in your soul" or "offering a vent for abreaction."
With charges ranging from 1 yuan (14 US cents) to 500 yuan, such services are selling well. One shopkeeper named Sihai said his service was to "lend an ear to listen to whatever customers want to say, even verbal abuse."
Another shop owner, nicknamed Tiger, classified his services in three categories. The first, and most expensive one, was cursing by phone, which will cost customers 20 yuan for five minutes, excluding phone bills. Once a deal was done, he said customers could contact him about whether they wanted a male or female listener.
"Cursing for a long time is detrimental to one's health, so we make it clear that our services are available only three times a day to each and every customer," he said.
Other less expensive services include cursing on QQ, the instant messaging service, at 10 yuan for five minutes, and swearing through Wangwang, a communication tool connecting retailers and shoppers on Taobao.com, at 0.98 yuan for five minutes.
Tiger said his clients were mainly white-collar employees under enormous pressure. Occasionally, they were housewives confiding their pain after discovering their husbands cheating. "My customers are usually between 20 and 30 and 40 percent are female," he said.
Another shopkeeper, surnamed Li from Jiangsu Province, said: "Some of my clients simply want to take out their anger and stress from work, others are seeking someone to talk to as a way to ease their anxieties.
"It seems to me that they are more open to strangers, but purposely avoid acquaintances such as relatives, friends or colleagues," said Li.
Zhang Hongbo, a psychology professor with Anhui Medical University, attributed the phenomenon to the stressful lives Chinese people are living today and the country's underdeveloped psychological counseling industry.
Zhang said: "Often when people decide to open up, their biggest concern is to protect their privacy. The Internet is convenient and not a bad choice, but only for those who are mildly stressed. For people who have great mental stress, however, this way of cursing out strangers has only limited efficacy."
For professional counseling, he said, people should see psychiatrists. But this was expensive and inconvenient as appointments had to be made and time allowed to become acquainted with counselors.
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