Young overseas models swarm into China before 'Singles' Day'
By Xu Zhitao
People's Daily app
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Approximately 10,000 would-be models from around the world are inquiring about jobs in China, according to a recent survey by Alibaba, one of the world’s largest online shopping retail platforms.

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A Ukrainian model is making up before the mirror. (Photo: VCG)

Over two-thirds of these models, typically between 16 and 20 years old, come from Eastern Europe, and are working temporarily in China, including 36 percent from Russia and 22 percent from Ukraine.

The survey shows that about 70 percent of them are overseas students and foreigners working as amateur models in China, and the others are professionals. Some of them work for runway events or automobile shows. But even more, the 7,000 models are involved in photo shoots of e-commerce apparel, mainly because of their slim figure.

The pace of models swarming into China always picks up from July to September, as China’s cross-border e-commerce portals prepare their fashion catalogues for the Christmas season, but also for November 11, China's so-called "Singles' Day", celebrated each year by an e-commerce shopping spree. Holding a work visa for 90 days, these overseas models come and go like beautiful migrating birds.

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In Qingdao, Shandong Province, a foreign model makes a make-up photo for the wedding dress show on June 27, 2017. (File Photo: VCG)

The hourly pay varies between 1,000-3,000 yuan ($144-$430), compared to average monthly wages of around $900 in Russia. The high pay stimulates the growth of foreign models in China. However, the competition is fierce. Based on the results from Alibaba, nearly one-third of the models have orders each day, while another one-third receives few modeling work.

Marina, a 16-year-old Ukrainian girl, arrived in China in July hoping to make some pocket money during her summer vacation, according to a recent report by Worldcrunch, an English language news website based in Paris, France.

She was one of seven young Eastern European models of a Chinese agency which housed them in a small flat in Hangzhou, where Alibaba’s headquarters are. After being in China for two months, Marina had only found seven days of work: once for a catwalk, the others for prints or internet ads. She was paid 700 yuan ($100) an hour, lower than the average quotation. “They prefer models with experience”, Marina was quoted as saying by Worldcrunch. (Source: Global Times)