Executive Overview
In September 2017, the intersection of China’s booming sharing economy, a profound demographic imbalance, and state-enforced public morality collided in a brief, bizarre corporate experiment. The Chinese company Taqu—operating its consumer-facing sex-positive lifestyle services under the English brand name "Touch"—launched a high-profile "Girlfriend Sharing" service. Promoted via its smartphone app and promoted across Chinese social media platforms like Weibo, the service allowed users to rent premium, life-sized silicone sex dolls for a daily fee of roughly $46.
The concept was simple yet provocative: users could select from a catalog of distinct personas—ranging from a "Greek bikini model" and a "US Wonder Woman" to a "Korean housewife," a "Russian teenager," and a "Hong Kong car race cheerleader"—have the doll delivered directly to their doorstep, and enjoy domestic companionship before returning it for cleaning and maintenance.
Yet, the modern marvel of the sharing economy met an immovable object in the form of Chinese state regulation and traditional cultural mores. Operating for a mere 48 hours before catching the attention of local law enforcement, the project was abruptly shut down. Police deemed the service "vulgar," slapped the company with a regulatory fine, and forced the total removal of the interface from the Touch app.
While the experiment was short-lived, it exposed much deeper currents running through contemporary Chinese society: a rapidly expanding adult entertainment market, a corporate desire to destigmatize conversations surrounding sex, and an acute demographic crisis characterized by tens of millions of surplus single men. This post-mortem examines the ascent, abrupt collapse, and broader societal implications of China’s most controversial short-lived tech startup.
Detailed Chronology: The 48-Hour Lifecycle of "Touch"
The deployment and subsequent dismantlement of the "Girlfriend Sharing" initiative unfolded at breakneck speed, fueled by viral social media attention and swift regulatory intervention.
Day One: Launch and Digital Buzz
The rollout began quietly within digital spaces before catching fire across Chinese microblogging networks. Taqu, a company boasting over 500,000 active users on its mainstream wellness and lifestyle application, positioned the service as a progressive step toward modernizing intimacy. Marketed under the slogan "Shared girlfriend — your heartwarming companionship," the project was framed by corporate marketers as an altruistic endeavor aimed at easing the financial burden of purchasing high-end silicon dolls outright, thereby extending the emotional and physical benefits of companionship to a wider demographic.
Initial marketing materials leaned heavily into the novelty and tech-forward nature of the offering. Users were told they could bypass the social isolation of modern urban life with the simple press of a smartphone screen. Within hours of the app interface going live, however, the project attracted intense public scrutiny, generating polarized online debates over public decency, hygiene, and the commercialization of intimacy.
Day Two: Regulatory Crackdown and Public Retreat
By the second day of operations, the discourse had shifted from online novelty to real-world legal jeopardy. As state media and internet watchdogs began flagging the campaign for promoting "vulgar" content—particularly sensitive given the timing of major upcoming political meetings in Beijing—law enforcement agencies stepped in.
Local police contacted Taqu executives directly, condemning the rental model as a violation of public morality statutes. Faced with immediate regulatory pressure, the company folded its hand almost instantly. Taqu deactivated the sharing interface, pulled its promotional campaigns from Weibo, and initiated damage control. What was billed as a revolutionary leap forward in consumer intimacy was scrubbed from the digital landscape before most urban consumers even had a chance to log in and test the service.
Mechanics, Marketing, and the Modularity of Modern Intimacy
To understand why the "Girlfriend Sharing" program captivated international media attention, one must examine the operational logistics designed by Taqu to make silicon doll rentals viable on a commercial scale.
The Catalog and the Cost
At a daily rate of roughly $46 USD ($350 CNY), renting a premium silicone doll was positioned as an accessible alternative to outright purchases, which can easily cost thousands of dollars for top-tier, hyper-realistic models. The catalog was curated to appeal to diverse fantasies, offering five distinct models:
- The Greek Bikini Model: Styled after Western aesthetic ideals of athleticism and sun-kissed glamour.
- The US Wonder Woman: Tapping into global pop-culture superhero iconography.
- The Korean Housewife: Catering to regional preferences for domestic, nurturing aesthetics.
- The Russian Teenager: Leaning into international tropes of youthful exoticism.
- The Hong Kong Car Race Cheerleader: Blending urban modernity with high-octane automotive subculture.
Hygiene and Modular Design
One of the most pressing questions raised by critics and potential consumers alike was sanitation. To address health and safety concerns, Touch established a rigorous post-rental protocol. Upon a doll’s return to company facilities, technicians removed the "lower parts" of the silicon figures for intensive sterilization and cleaning before returning the unit to circulation.
Furthermore, the company introduced a modular design concept to appeal to consumer desires for customization and hygiene peace-of-mind. Users had the option to permanently retain the lower half of the doll while ordering a freshly manufactured upper half for subsequent rentals, effectively lowering the psychological barrier to sharing intimate products.
Supporting Context & Metrics: The Crisis of Male Singledom in China
While Western commentators frequently fixated on the novelty or perceived bizarreness of timeshared sex dolls, Chinese sociologists and economists viewed the venture through a much more serious lens: the country’s severe gender imbalance.
The Demographic Imbalance
Decades of demographic policy—specifically the implementation and cultural enforcement of the now-revised "One-Child Policy"—combined with a traditional preference for male heirs, have created a historic skew in China’s population pyramid. According to official national surveys, China’s sex ratio at birth historically peaked at disproportionate levels, resulting in a contemporary populace where men outnumber women significantly.
Data indicates a national ratio of approximately 1.18 men to every one woman. With an overall population hovering around 1.38 billion, this statistical discrepancy translates to tens of millions of surplus men who face immense societal pressure to marry, buy property, and secure family lineages, yet find themselves structurally locked out of traditional marriage markets.
The "Sheng Nan" (Leftover Men) Phenomenon
These millions of single men—frequently referred to colloquially as guang gun ("bare branches") or sheng nan ("leftover men")—represent an enormous, underserved consumer market. Living predominantly in urban centers away from their rural families, these individuals experience profound social isolation.
Taqu’s marketing strategy directly targeted this demographic vulnerability. Promotional copy explicitly promised that the dolls had "perfect bodies, are totally submissive and can meet the needs of the single home boy," concluding with the alluring marketing hook: "With one touch of a key, you are no longer single!"
It was precisely this intersection of commercial enterprise exploiting systemic male loneliness that caught the eye of state regulators, who viewed the commodification of submissive synthetic companions as both a moral hazard and a potential flashpoint for social unrest.
Official Statements and Corporate Posturing
In the wake of the shutdown, company representatives engaged in a delicate balancing act. They sought to appease communist authorities through public contrition while simultaneously defending their overarching mission of promoting adult wellness in a conservative market.
The Public Apology
In a statement released via Weibo, Touch struck a conciliatory tone, explicitly acknowledging the political sensitivity of the timing:
"Because our third-party marketing staff failed to comply with related regulations, certain promotion campaigns were suspended by regulatory agencies, considering the widespread controversy, we decided to stop the project. We sincerely apologize for the negative impact caused by the project, especially its negative impact on online discourse at a time of major meetings."
The Regulator’s Hammer and the Fine
In an interview with the tech publication Motherboard, Touch spokesman Zheng Ying offered a more candid breakdown of the state’s intervention. Confirming that police forces had swiftly categorized the venture as "vulgar," Zheng revealed that the company was hit with a regulatory fine of 2,000 Chinese Yuan (approximately $340 USD).
Though modest in financial terms, the administrative penalty served as an unmistakable warning shot from the state apparatus. Recognizing that as a publicly listed entity, the company could not afford prolonged conflict with regulatory bodies, executive leadership pulled the plug voluntarily.
Defending the Mission
Despite the swift retreat on the rental model, Zheng maintained that the company’s broader philosophical goals remained unchanged. Defending the normalization of adult products, he told reporters:
"Sex itself is not vulgar. Making more Chinese people experience the pleasure of sex is still the goal we strive for… The Taqu app will go on, we will find a new way to popularize the sex interest culture… and we think everyone has [the] right to talk about sex."
Future Outlook: The Ongoing Evolution of China’s Adult Industry
The two-day lifespan of Taqu’s "Girlfriend Sharing" project serves as a clear case study in the friction between commercial innovation and state-enforced morality in modern China. It highlights several key trajectories for the future of the nation’s multi-billion-dollar adult wellness and technology sectors:
- Strict State Oversight on Novelty Tech: While e-commerce platforms in China freely sell adult toys, sex dolls, and wellness items to a massive digital consumer base, services that attempt to introduce these products into the public sharing economy or communal spaces will face immediate, zero-tolerance enforcement from law enforcement.
- Pivoting Away from "Sharing": The sharing economy model—which revolutionized everything from bicycles and umbrellas to battery banks in Chinese cities—hit a hard regulatory wall when applied to intimate goods. Future innovations in the adult sector will likely focus on private, direct-to-consumer sales, home automation integration, and advanced artificial intelligence rather than collaborative consumption models.
- The Persistent Demographic Challenge: The underlying social forces that birthed the "Shared Girlfriend" concept—urban loneliness, the male surplus, and changing attitudes toward traditional marriage—are not going away. As millions of single men continue to navigate a society that places immense value on family structures, the demand for surrogate companionship, virtual partners, and high-end consumer robotics will persist.
Ultimately, while Taqu’s timeshared bonkable mannequins were relegated to a brief footnote in internet history, the underlying market forces guarantee that entrepreneurs will continue testing the boundaries of technology, intimacy, and state control in the world’s most populous nation.
