Bodyguards are being hired by thousands of ordinary people in China who have no need for protection but want to impress love interests or intimidate neighbours.

The number of online inquiries about bodyguard hire has risen four-fold from last year according to Taobao, a digital shopping platform.

Chinese media said more than 10,000 people placed orders for a “private bodyguard” service on Taobao during the first 20 days of January.

One man in his 20s named as Xiaoran reportedly paid a muscly bouncer £170 a day to speed him from the capital, Beijing, to Hebei province in northern China during last week’s Spring Festival in order to boost his image in the eyes of former neighbours.

The bodyguard carried out additional duties like carrying his bag and holding his umbrella, to give the impression of celebrity status.

Xiaoran said he used the service to convince local matchmakers to try harder to find him a “good” woman.

The practice of hiring bodyguards to impress has generated debate across social media, with some criticising “these young people who don’t have any socialist character and only care about showing off”.

Some have likened the service to hiring a “boyfriend”, especially during the Spring Festival when women face a spike in pressure from family members urging them to get married.

“I’d like to hire a boyfriend for seven days during the Spring Festival. I’m not rich, I can only offer 500 yuan (£55) per day. He will talk to me, be nice to my relatives, and offer a cigarette and a cup of tea when meeting them,” said one woman on the Weibo social media app.

Bodyguards-for-hire have also risen in popularity in recent years as ordinary citizens turn to them for travel companions or for more serious roles such as protecting domestic abuse survivors.

In major cities, private guards service can be dispatched within 30 minutes. Some companies offer “predominantly Dutch, British and US trained agents from specialised military, police and intelligence units”.

Ex-military personnel

The town of Qingdao in eastern Shandong province previously made headlines by introducing the Jinyiwei app to allow “not just the rich and famous” to engage a personal guard.

At the time, the app’s developers said their personnel would be comprised of ex-military personnel who undertook etiquette training classes.

Male bodyguards are all above 5ft 11in tall and weigh at least 80kg.

Female bodyguards are also becoming more common.

Last year, a female secret service agent protecting Asma al-Assad, Syria’s first lady, during a visit to Hangzhou sparked fascination on Chinese social media where she was praised for her dashing posture and “eyes blazing like torches”.