The rent-a-foreigner phenomenon

❤

I had not lived in China very long before I stumbled upon the concept of "renting" a foreigner. It is rather simple: A Chinese company hires a random foreigner for a half or a whole day to act as a status symbol. But what is it all about, and why do Chinese companies feel they need white people to increase their credibility?

My friend Peter has taken such jobs on several occasions. He claims it is just for the fun of it. He has acted as an important investor, handed out fake business cards with fancy titles and drunk liters of baijiu at business dinners. When he is hired, the instructions are quite straightforward: He must be as American as possible. That is not exactly difficult as he happens to be born in Michigan. He is also asked not to engage in technical discussions about the business deal or its products. 

Peter has lived in China for 10 years and speaks fluent Chinese. But he waits patiently for an interpreter to translate from Chinese to English whenever he plays the role of an important CEO who just arrived from the US the day before. It usually goes smoothly, and he tells me that the only time he felt slightly awkward was when a furniture manufacturer asked him for advice on how to import timber from Russia.

I once asked him if he has ever felt guilty about pretending to be someone he's not. "Not really," he replied. "If I had said no, the agent would have quickly found someone else for the job. I have not done any harm - just helped the companies."

The value of a white face in China can be traced back a long time. During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the emperors collected objects from the West and gave them as gifts to show their authority, just like local leaders were keen to be seen with Marco Polo during his journey along the Silk Road. 

Many Chinese still associate a white face with a global perspective, and Chinese products that are promoted with a Western face to the outside world tend to be regarded as superior and luxurious.

The rent-a-foreigner business saw a boom at around the same time that China's housing boom commenced in the early 2010s. At that time, it was common to hire foreigners for the inaugurations of big real estate projects that branded themselves as "international cities."

The documentary Dream Empire (2016) (← touch to watch the documentary ) by American filmmaker David Borenstein portrays his own experience as a "white guy in a tie." Borenstein appears as a world-famous clarinet player, a member of the famous (fictional) band The Travelers and as an Olympic athlete. The film also follows Chinese agent Yana Yang who, for several years, had great success in hiring random foreigners she often found at bars or nightclubs. 

"White monkey gigs," as some people call them, are still alive and kicking, and I quite fancy the idea of becoming a big international pop star, at least, for a day. 

This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times.

Source: Global Times

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1085471.shtml

Anything to share with us ? 
有什么与我们分享吗？请添加加小编微信
add our editor's wechat 
"whatsupinhangzhou"