'I'd talk to the TV': The paid companions bringing warmth to China's lonely

Figure caption, Watch: Why the lonely in China are hiring 'temporary children'"The biggest difficulty really was the loneliness. Sometimes, if I wanted to talk to someone I'd talk to the TV."Yang, 91, lives on the outskirts of China's bustling capital Beijing. Following the death of her husband, she was so lonely that she says she even considered the possibility of voluntary euthanasia."I asked my son about it but he told me it was banned. I told him that if it ever becomes legal I want to do it - I didn't want to live any longer."Suffering glaucoma, with failing eyesight, she was unable to even do basic things like adjust the controls on her air conditioner.Cases such as Yang's have become increasingly common in Chinese cities which Associate Professor Teresa Kuan, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, says is "exacerbated by the structure of society and the modes by which people interact".There are many causes of isolation in China. Most of it happens when rural migrants pursue economic opportunities, leaving behind close-knit support networks for urban centres where loneliness and uncertainty can be difficult to overcome, or when graduates uproot themselves chasing employmen...