Rent-a-White Guy/Gal

tvan

August 18, 2010, 09:52 PM posted in General Discussion

Around a month ago, several stories came out about Chinese companies "renting" white people.  Here's the text from an ad in That's Beijing:

Hello to all foreigners of all nationalities,

We all know that this is China and occasionally in China being from another country is a very desirable thing, if you are a foreign national from any country we want to put you in our database and find part time “face” jobs for you.

A face job is a job which requires no skill other than being friendly and being a laowai. Occasionally companies want a foreign face to go to meetings and conferences or to go to dinners and lunches and smile at the clients and shake people’s hands.

There are job opportunities for girls who are pretty and for men who can look good in a suit. This is a great way to make cash in the evenings or to travel and have all expenses paid trips around china while getting paid up to 1000RMB per day.

For foreigners in Beijing it will not cost you anything to register, just send me your CV and I will put you on our list, when jobs come up where someone matching your description is needed we will call you with the details.

Why not register???
This is a company run by expats for expats.

Any companies interested in viewing our database can also contact us and we will come to you with our client list.

Hope to hear from you all soon.

Regards
Sophie.

rent_a_laowai@hotmail.com

Also, here is a link to a story on the subject from CNN; and finally, a link to a video posted on Tudou about an *ahem* American who has successfully maintained his U.S. job working for the a Chinese company as a "White Guy."

Although it didn't look like too much money, I'm curious; has anyone in China heard of this type of job?  Can you get hired if you're Japanese?  Indian?