'Bedmates' are a hot commodity for China's broke and jobless youth, who say they need to sleep next to strangers just to survive in the country's megacities

• Young people who can't afford rent in China's megacities are sharing beds with strangers to get by.
• Posts advertising "same room, same bed" arrangements have surged on China's version of Instagram.

Young people struggling in China's megacities have found a way to fit rent into their dwindling budgets — sharing a bed with a stranger.

As the country faces a youth-unemployment crisis, posts advertising shared bed spaces in urban sprawls like Shanghai and Beijing have emerged on Xiaohongshu, China's new version of Instagram.

The practice is different from "hot-bedding," a trend in the West where tenants save on rent by taking turns to sleep. In China, "bedmates" sleep together in the same bed and split the cost of the room.

The intimate arrangement has prompted young tenants to think of new ways to maintain personal boundaries.

"Same room, same bed, different quilt" is a tagline often seen in these rental posts, such as one written by a young woman selling a bed space in Baoshan, Shanghai.

"Doesn't snore, occasionally talks in sleep, wakes up around nine in the morning and goes to bed around nine in the evening, has Tuesdays off," she wrote of herself in the ad.

The woman said she had been unable to afford rent alone since her friend moved out. "I hope to stay with a fellow lady," she added.

She said her shared apartment had a "large space, bay windows, carpets, and two sets of tables and chairs."

Several takers reached out online.

"I'm very interested. I hope to have a chance to chat with you," one person commented. By late July, the post said she'd found a tenant for August.

Another post advertising a bed space in central Beijing for $250 a month welcomed "fellow ladies who love cleanliness."

"I'm usually away from home every day from ten to seven in the morning, and the bed is very big," they wrote, attaching photos of a small room with a washing machine and a kitchenette.

"Are you still renting this, sister?" a commenter asked.

'Not being burdened by rent, while living normal lives'

The trend caught wider attention in early July following a report by News Weekly, a current-affairs magazine in Guangdong.

"This sort of renting arrangement might sound bold and even absurd, but in first-tier cities, this co-rental approach is not uncommon," News Weekly said.

First-tier cities generally refer to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, China's top four urban powerhouses. The average rent in these cities is about $12 a square meter, according to the business-news outlet YiCai.

The news site Youth36kr reported on an arrangement between two "bedmates" near Beijing who wanted to keep their monthly rent below $280.

The pair, who connected on Xiaohongshu, met for the first time in their apartment room and agreed to each pay $210 a month toward rent, Youth36kr reported.

They'd reached an agreement: no snoring, sleepwalking, or bringing male guests home, the outlet reported.

"They fulfilled their most simple wish — not being burdened by rent, while living normal lives," Youth36kr wrote.

A bleak economy for China's youth

Bed-sharing comes as youth unemployment in China soared to 21.3% in June, per official statistics. Youths in China are classified as 16 to 24 years old.

Gen Z workers have been battered in the economy by three years of brutal COVID-19 lockdowns, and a record 11.6 million new university graduates are expected to enter the job markets this year.

Average starting salaries for graduates in China were about $810 a month in 2021, per a survey published by MyCOS, a research institute in Beijing, in 2023.

The conditions have sparked a wave of cynicism among young Chinese workers, who have taken to anti-hustle movements such as "lying flat" and posing like zombies in graduation photos.