"Laowai for hire" - a popular promotional service in the Middle Kingdom
Foreigners pose as royal guards in a Chinese development Image: David Borenstein/New York Times |
How do you market a new development in a third tier city as being truly “international” and “cutting edge”?
The answer for many Chinese property developers is simply to hire foreigners to visit and assume any number of guises like investor, architect, engineer, model or even a member of the royal guards!
Western “talent” agents source foreigners to attend openings, viewings and launch parties around the country to increase the profile of the places they are visiting.
For foreigners in China the economics certainly make sense, as they can earn more than 1500 yuan per day ($241) for their services.
Despite such rewarding opportunities the number of foreigners living in China’s most international city, Shanghai, is actually decreasing. The number of residents from overseas, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, actually fell 2% from last year to 255,000. Of the total, 170,000 non-Chinese accounted for more than 25% of all foreigners in Mainland China.
By comparison, and despite being less than half the population of Shanghai, London is home to three million residents born outside of the UK.