New connection

Liu Yuqi, a 23-year-old illustrator from Dalian, Liaoning province, is on a quest to find kindred spirits online.

Working from home, she has little social interaction and often feels lonely, craving emotional connection. She once tried a paid listening service, spending 300 yuan for a two-hour session. But the experience fell short of what she had hoped for, because the listener — perhaps in an effort to remain professional — seemed to avoid genuine empathy. Instead of the deep connection she longed for, she was left feeling unsatisfied.

So Liu began looking for a "mutual tree hole" partner — someone she could share with and listen to freely and equally.

She chose not to rely on traditional support systems such as family or close friends, partly because of generational gaps and partly because she didn't want to burden others with her emotions.

"Mutual selection and two-way sharing create a sense of equal value, without pressure," she explained.

In her view, the ideal "tree hole relationship" has four defining qualities: efficiency, safety, sincerity, and stability.

"Efficiency" means avoiding the exhausting rituals of real-world socializing. "Safety" involves clear boundaries, the freedom to withdraw at any time, and not prying into each other's personal lives. "Sincerity" refers to open communication without hidden agendas or utilitarian motives. And "Stability" means that the relationship should enrich life like a "condiment", rather than becoming a new source of emotional turbulence.

Liu's reflections on her generation are especially telling. She observes that young people today are redefining ideas of intimacy and boundaries. They seek deep understanding, yet remain cautious about protecting their personal space and sense of security. Both paid listening services and mutual tree hole partnerships, she believes, are expressions of these shifting dynamics in modern relationships.

"Our generation stands at the crossroads of the old and the new," she said. "We often lack deep connections, but technology offers unprecedented convenience."

"Our loneliness is unlike anything before," she added."But it also fuels creativity. We're not constrained by traditional relationship models — we're bold enough to invent and explore new forms of emotional connection."