Chinese woman stunned as date tries to split bill based on number of pieces of meat she ate

A woman wrote online that a blind date she recently met suggested splitting the dinner bill based on how many pieces of hot stew she ate, sparking a wide-ranging discussion about the state of modern dating in China.

The woman, whose identity was not disclosed, wrote in a recent Xiaohongshu post that after a meal that ended around 11 p.m., her partner suggested they go out for drinks. The woman, sensing it was too late, declined the invitation.

She said the man’s behaviour changed after she turned down his offer to go out for drinks, to which he replied: “You’re not one of those naive women who expects the guy to pay on the first date, are you?”

In response, the woman suggested that they split the bill and call the waiter to calculate the amount.

According to the receipt she shared, the meal cost 300 yuan ($40), and on the check the duo marked in pen which party should pay for what.

“The funny thing was that he said he didn’t eat any of the fried tofu rolls, so they should be on my bill. Also, since I ate most of the meat and he only had a few pieces, he said he’d only pay for a third,” she said.

Even the 3 yuan (40 US cents) difference in drink prices was factored in.

The woman paid 48.6 yuan ($6.7) more than the man.

To make matters worse, after the date, the woman received a call from her mother, who said the man criticized her for being “extravagant and materialistic.”

Towards the end of her post, she expressed her frustration by asking, “Am I the only one who encounters such weird people?”

The woman, who described herself as an “older, single internet worker,” said her family pressured her to get married, prompting her to agree to arranged blind dates.

“My mother keeps trying to convince me to get married and even asks my uncles and aunts to set me up on blind dates,” she wrote.

Her post was met with a response from many people, which sparked a wave of support in the comments complaining about dating.

Someone wrote: “You should call a matchmaker right away to act as your auditor when splitting the bill.”

Someone else said: “You should tell him to watch the restaurant’s surveillance footage and see who ate what and how much, then do the math.”

A third person said: “If it were me, I would say forget about the math. I would pay the bill and consider it a payment to avoid further hassle.”

Weird blind date stories often find resonance on social media across the continent.

In October 2020, a woman from eastern China’s Zhejiang Province decided to test the generosity of her blind date by inviting 23 of her family members to dinner. The bill for the date came to almost 20,000 yuan ($2,800).

The man left dinner, leaving the woman to pay the bill.