The Rent-a-Foreigner Market Betrays Yet Another Sign of China Slowdown

choi

Julie Makinen, Looking for Another Sign of a Weakened China Economy? Try the Rent-a-Foreigner Market. Los Angeles Times, Feb 4, 2016 (available now).
www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg ... 20160203-story.html

Quote:

"Agencies hired them [foreigners] to pose as scientists, architects, engineers and models to lend an 'international,' high-class flair to press conferences, meetings and sales pitches, thereby goosing business transactions. The phenomenon was in many ways a symptom of — and further fuel for — go-go growth built on dubious foundations.

"The jobs were often absurd: One expat, Mitch Moxley, was paid $1,000 to pose as a 'quality control expert' representing a nonexistent California-based company; he chronicled his experience in a 2010 piece for the Atlantic headlined 'Rent a White Guy.'

"In China’s so-called 'first tier cities,' the casual gigs that expats are getting have become more campy and lowbrow. Last summer, a company called Sweetie Salad 甜心摇滚沙拉 grabbed attention when it hired dozens of foreign men to dress up as Spartans—wearing skin tight-shorts, sandals, capes and little else—to promote its delivery service in Beijing.

Note:
(a) go-go (adj):
"3a :  relating to or dealing in popular often speculative investment expected to yield high returns <go–go mutual funds>
b :  relating to, involved in, or marked by business growth and prosperity and aggressive efforts to turn a quick profit <go–go bankers and entrepreneurs … who put together the megabuck deals — Ken Auletta>"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/go-go
(b) Mitch Moxley, Rent a White Guy. The Atlantic, July/August 2010.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magaz ... a-white-guy/308119/
("in Dongying 东营市, an industrial city in Shandong province")
(c) "David Borenstein, the director of a [2015] TV documentary about the phenomenon called 'China Dreamland.' * * * He calculates rates have fallen by as much as 75%."

(d)
(i) "Zhang Yiwu 張頤武, a professor of Chinese literature and language at Peking University"
(ii) "Max Liu, founder of Fun Model Management"  

I fail to find Chinese names.

(e) "campy" in quotation 3.

camp (n; origin unknown; First Known Use: circa 1909):
"1:  exaggerated effeminate mannerisms exhibited especially by homosexuals
2a :  something so outrageously artificial, affected, inappropriate, or out-of-date as to be considered amusing"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/camp
(f) "Akmal Abdurakhimov, 21, a Muscovite enrolled at the China University of Petroleum, indicated that the work had an almost minstrel flavor: 'People open the door, see me and go, "Laowai!" ' he said, recounting how customers reacted to his presence as some sort of exotic practical joke.  Which, in some sense, may have been true. * * * Suning marketing specialist Jessica Fan * * * insisted that the company was hiring foreigners mainly because they were facing a deliveryman shortage as the holiday approached.  But Jeffrey Towson, a professor of investment at Peking University, said the notion was preposterous. 'China has a lot of shortages,' he said. 'People isn't one of them.' "

practical joke (n):
"[simple definition:] a joke involving something that is done rather than said : a trick played on someone
[full definition:] a prank intended to trick or embarrass someone or cause physical discomfort"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/practical%20joke

(g) "Although a regular Suning deliveryman held [Samuel] Keith’s hand every step of the way, it was still slow going.  In his first two days with Suning, Keith said he delivered just five or six packages—and gave as many interviews. (At midday Thursday, after Keith and his hand-holder, Li Yunwang, finally managed to deliver their first package with a gaggle of press in tow, Li turned to one reporter and said dryly, 'Normally by this hour I’ve delivered 30 or 40.') "
(i)
(A) hand–holding (n): "solicitous attention, support, or instruction (as in servicing clients)"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hand%E2%80%93holding
(B) handholding (n; adj):
"1: the holding of hands.
2:Strong personal support or reassurance"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/handholding
(ii) drily (adv): "also dryly: In a matter-of-fact or ironically humorous way"
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/drily

(h) "For expats who do take rent-a-foreigner jobs, the blatant racism in the pay scales can be a bit jarring.  Zhang Rui, a marketing employee of Liaocheng Global United America Cultural Communications, an employment agency, said the pay for black hires to appear at trade fairs and business meetings starts at about $75 a day. Whites, Zhang said, begin at $150."

I fail to find Chinese names.