Crazy jobs, or paid experiences people have had in China like impersonating someone.

[simonlaing]

Damn, such a strong reaction.

Whoa .I was a bit taken a back by your strong comments. Mr. Lawyer.

Are you telling me all the advertisments on Chinese TV with a random white guy in a lab coat can be sued for people thinking he's a doctor even if the AD doesn't say anything about it.

Or the Black guy on the old bird commercial who wins the race taking a picture of himself crossing the finish can be sued for not being a professional athlete.

The fact of the matter was that I wasn't promoting a stock IPO. It was a merger between a US airconditioner company and a Chinese one thats all. I don't think they're even listed on the stock exchange. I talked about the companies motto and product line and organization. That was about it. No reporter asked me questions and I jsut chatted with the mayor about the weather and the trip over to Shanghai.

Don't you think there are times when companies do things for face or PR. It was a real US company taking part in it. I don't see how my folks or you folks could have seen the press conference then go out and buy their non existant stock. There was another time when I did an english song with some students on a stage in front of a Mall to advertise the company. It wasn't the best experience but I see it as the same thing. (Yes I did teach for the company.)

What difference does it make if the US spokesperson of the day comes directly from the US or is Hired in China. Now if the content was misleading about their stock or gave prices that were not true I could buy your false advertising argument. But if it is just a ceremony to gain face for the media then who cares where the spokesman comes from.

After this I'd be suprised if anyone writes anything else for fear of being responded to strongly..

Not wanting to hurt anyone,

Simon

[bianfuxia]

Simon, I didn't express any vitriol. Just my opinion, which you solicit when you post on an internet forum. I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, I'm just expressing my own view about the issue. I'm sorry if you saw it as a "flame".

But anyway, seeing as you ask:

What difference does it make if the US spokesperson of the day comes directly from the US or is Hired in China.

None, except that:

The told me I was supposed to be an american representative who had come from the US just for this presentation which marked a joint venture and investment of x million dollars in China.

...which in fact you were not. In other words, misleading conduct in a corporate venture, which you have just stated you participated in, with full prior knowledge of the deceptive nature of your participation.

I think most TV commercials in the West which use actors to play doctors endorsing tylenol, or whatever, like those here in China, would be considered slightly differently to an actor appearing live at a conference reading a speech purporting to be Mr Representative from AirCon Inc, Houston Texas. Have you noticed how "news articles" about a great new product have the word "advertisement" in tiny print? That's to cover the advertiser from being accused of misleading conduct by making the advertisement appear like an article. So if your performance went something like this:

"And I now introduce Mr Simon Laing, our company representative from the US..." [insert deep voice saying "the-role-of-company-representative-is-actually-played-by-an-actor"]...

then maybe it would be ok.

Anyway, my remarks about the potential legality or otherwise were directed at a quote by Ding Yiyi, out of interest for everyone reading this thread. You can take it or leave it, dude.

[zhwj]

Are you telling me all the advertisments on Chinese TV with a random white guy in a lab coat can be sued for people thinking he's a doctor even if the AD doesn't say anything about it.

Well, yeah. New regulations that just went into effect on 1 January bar the use of a whole slew of advertising techniques, including "the use of the names of medical institutions, or so-called famous doctors, professors, or noted experts to mislead consumers." link

There's a reason why medical and attorney-at-law ads in the US, say, run fine print at the bottom that says "dramatization" or "actor". China doesn't have those rules yet (in fact, last year there was a huge controversy about celebrities endorsing medical products), but there are rules against misleading ads, particularly for drugs.

[gougou]

What kind of company is that anyway, that can't send their own spokesperson to a celebration that marks a multi-million dollar investment?

You know, Simon, I don't think anybody is trying to say that you are a bad person. But maybe you should be more careful about what endeavors you choose to participate in. Chinese people, particularly these shady business people, are very clever; if you walk through China without questioning their underlying motives, you'll easily be deceived - or end up part of some sort of deception.

[flameproof]

I would not do any "funny" business with people I don't know, for one simple reason:

How do you know that YOU are not the target in an elaborate scam?

The beginning example could be switched easily into the "bar scam", presenting with a high bill for the worlds most exclusive peanuts.

[roddy]

This discussion is so much funnier than I thought it would be. Exclusive peanuts indeed.

If these things aren't hurting anyone, just giving some people face, what's the harm?

Exactly. It's like the CCTV9 news and the China Daily - everyone gets a nice happy impression of China, China gets more face. No harm, no foul.

What kind of company is that anyway, that can't send their own spokesperson to a celebration that marks a multi-million dollar investment?

That's what I find quite odd.

The issue is whether you'd want to contribute to a system of perpetuating bullshit.

:clap . Nail, meet head. Head, meet nail.

[nitropuppy]

KUDOS and a big thank you to Gougou, Roddy and the "lawyer. Do this crap in the U.S. and you would land in jail. (if caught) What laws are you breaking.......? How about criminal impersonation, false representation, fraud, visa violations, false contracts, various graft laws, ect,ect. "Yeah" that's so "cooool and exciting"! Like Roddy meantions...would you like it, if you found out your grandmother invested in some crooked scheme, advanced by a spelling challenged, immoral, so-called thrill seeker? I find it amazing that so many people think this is alright or fun. Forget about any religious aspect but whatever happened to ................."do to others as you would want them to do to you' ? Now that,........ seems like a "cooool" idea.

[Jamoldo]

There are tons of things that could/would land you in jail. I bet if he had a half decent lawyer, that they could pin more on the company (though he would be at fault for taking the position). In the end, it is the company that is promoting such behavior and so I am sure some heads at the top (or the middle) would roll..

You can get jailed for anything (technically) in the US nowadays...

All of you should lighten up a little

[flameproof]

There are tons of things that could/would land you in jail.

It's not about criminal liability. I don't care much about that. But I don't like to cheat people, and I don't like to be part in a scam that may cheat people.

But trust me, if I were the foreign customer it would work. 2 or 3 question can simply expose the whole scam. It only takes a little China experience.

[zhwj]

OK. Here's an experience I had that was not illegal at all (but then it doesn't fall under impersonation, either):

One winter when I was at a private school in Jilin City, my boss asked all of the foreign teachers if we'd like to go on an all-expenses-paid skiing day trip. We'd spend a few hours in the morning taking part in some winter-themed video shoot, and then we'd have the rest of the day to enjoy the local ski resort. This was obviously an attempt by the school to curry favor with someone by renting out its foreigners (like the time we had been "invited" to play basketball against the staff of some bank the school was seeking a loan from), but this didn't sound too painful.

The problems came along early. We got off to a late start. We took a shortcut to the resort over a dirt track covered in a meter of snow. We got lost. This was the middle of winter, where temperatures get down to below -30 at night. It was probably around -20 that day.

During the ride, we learned what it was we would be doing. Then-president Jiang Zemin had written some poem about winter, or Jilin, or Jilin in winter, and it was set to music and sung by some star (probably not Song Zuying, though). We were going to be part of the music video shoot as foreigners who had come to Jilin to enjoy the wonderful winter activities the city had to offer. Anyway, when we arrived around mid-morning, the crew was still setting up the crane for an overhead shot. The cold was causing problems for their equipment. We sat in the "lodge" to wait - actually a small, dingy room with two metal beds, heated to just above freezing. Then we had lunch. Then we waited some more.

Finally the crew was set up - this was early afternoon. They were to film us smiling happily while riding in horse-drawn sleighs - it didn't look too bad. Only problem is that it's really hard to smile happily while riding in a horse-drawn sleigh at 20 below. At a fast trot, the horse kicks up enough snow that it's all you can do to keep your eyes open. After one run-through, half of the English teachers went back to the van. The rest of us were told to look more like we were enjoying it. For the third take, we had to take off our hats and scarves. That was enough for me. The other extras (local folks and various crew members) toughed it out for a few more takes, but even the singer, who was bundled up in a fabulous white fur coat, sat out a few times.

The foreign guests waited in the school's van (whose heat didn't work) for a while longer until the shoot wrapped. I think they finally got useful footage - the whole shot was maybe 7 seconds long. We left at around around 3:30 or 4. No one wanted to ski, and it was almost dusk anyway, so we drove back to school. My toes didn't warm up until we finally pulled up to the building.

We never found out what happened with the video. I imagine it showed on local TV or made it in to an investors promo pack. Maybe Jiang watches it sometimes as he sits in retirement in his Shanghai home.

[roddy]

Reminds me of a story a couple of friends I used to teach with told me about what happened when they first arrived. One of the local teachers at the school helped them out a bit, showing them where the supermarket was, etc, for the first week. Then one day next week she invited them to go and visit 'a friend's school' - fair enough, they all jump in a taxi and are taken to another school. Then it's 'oh, perhaps we can go and visit this class.' and 'I know, why don't you sing a song for the children.' And as the guy telling the story said "It was all a bit odd, but its our first week in China, so what do we know. And yeah, they were videoing it and I remember thinking it was a pretty professional looking camera for a school, but again, what do we know?"

Month or so later, they're summoned to a very unhappy meeting with their schools owners demanding to know why they have filmed TV adverts for a rival school which are getting massive airplay on the local TV station. Turns out their 'friend' had gone to work for the rival school shortly after their visit . . .

Now, back to Simon, who I think has left us anyway . . .

In the end, it is the company that is promoting such behavior and so I am sure some heads at the top (or the middle) would roll..

But really, do you want to participate in it? Even ignoring the legal aspect - which I happily admit a lot of the time is not an issue - it's not something I'd be happy to do. I mean, surely if someone stands up as you are exchanging cigarettes with the Mayor of Shanghai or wherever and yells out "He's a fake" you are going to be pretty embarrassed and he's going to be pretty pissed off. He's not going to pat you on the back and ask you if you're enjoying your Chinese experience. Steamrollered into it once I can understand. Anything beyond that I find very strange.

[gougou]

Thanks, zhwj, for bringing this thread back on track!

Unfortunately, I have been spared of the experiences crazy enough to be worth sharing here. The closest thing I can come up with is the time when out of the blue, I received a phone call from the girl that had rented the room I lived in before me. She asked me whether I could help her do some translating for a friend who was going to arrive from Africa the next week. I agreed, but was not thrilled - I imagined taking a guy whose English I could barely understand around Beijing's sights.

Turned out that the guy came from Dubai, was loaded and came to China to talk business. What followed was a week of fancy restaurants, a little translating and preventing the occasional cultural clash (Muslims believe: Do not drink alcohol. Chinese believe: 再来一瓶!)... Besides good food, I made a new friend in Dubai.

But, oh well, probably not as exciting as my flatmate's story, who just went shooting a commercial with Jackie Chan...

[simonlaing]

Hey roddy,

I am still around, just busy the last two weeks .

I guess now I am more experienced and wouldn't fall for it as easily. So I might not take part, but I don't regret doing it. In my undergraduate degree was in Sociology, so the whole situation of the pre-presentation sit-down, exhanging cigarettes and business cards, it was very cool and an interesting look into how business is done.

That there are hotels that you don't have to register your passport if you know the manager was interesting.

Legal issues aside, I thought it was a cool experience.

On the film side, my co-teacher in Suzhou and another teacher were extras in a Wuxi war soap opera. He was told he would have a line but in the end he was carried on a stretch face covered in blood and mud make up. The Doctor even half covered his face when checking his vitals before sending him away. He was paid 50 yuan for the day, of which he spent 98% standing around waiting for his 20 second scene.

I almost went on a ad for a cough lozenge advertisment, but canceled because it was finals week.

The TV ad for the opposing school that one poster mentioned was interesting as it was the teacher from their original school that con ed them into doing it. When I was a student doing illegal part time TV I was strict about not allowing TV commercials of me as some students were caught doing that for some schools in the Nanjing suburbs . They were followed up by the police who fined them , and the School in question was shut down for 2 months or more I think. So it can be an issue. Btw most of my western classmates at Nanjing U did some sort of part time work .

Anyway, I think interesting experiences like these can show you other sides of China that you wouldn't normally see. When are you going to make small talk with the Mayor of Shanghai. It was cool.

have fun,

SImon:)

[griz326]

I think I'll have the name on my passport changed to Jeff Bridges the movie star.

hehehehe

[jessitaylor]

well i did the standard recording work for students of english, sitting in dingy room for hours but getting suprisingly well paid for it.

they were fairly normal sentences at first "john went to the bank" "mary likes chocolate" etc with me occasionally having to tweak the grammar a little so it made sense. then later the sentences started getting increasingly random - mary got so fat she couldnt find a boyfriend, and john or one of his friends went orange from eating too many carrots. you have to wonder when exactly these sentences are supposed to come in useful for english learners....

the chinese guy in charge of sound etc got very bemused when i started giggling (after 4 hours anything would have seemed funny, let alone the phrases they got me to say) and eventually slightly annoyed. i now wish i had asked who these tapes would go to and if i could get a copy, plus id like to seek out the people learning to speak exactly like me and do a comparison. if anyone ever warns you of the danger of eating too many carrots, theyve probably listened to my tape.....

[Xiwang]

Now that Roddy has revived this thread by linking to it . . .

A friend of mine visiting me from Peking University told me that his blonde male roommate answered an advertisement and starting doing video porn. Apparently, when the roommate is not being naked in the dorm room while being on the Chatroulette webcam, he enjoys showing stills of himself with naked Chinese girls from the videos he's made.

I'm pretty sure that this violates the Chinese work permit rules.

Peking University classes are just ending. Students are starting to all go home this week, some leaving with more interesting stories than others.

[JonBI]

Hmm well, I don't see how this is any different than club owners paying young attractive females to lure in stupid, rich, foreign men. I guess it works both ways.

[Mouseneb]

Here's my (fairly recent) story, lifted from my blog: http://mouseneb.livejournal.com/

It all started with a call from the Haikou government. We've learned to love it when they call us because it always results in some sort of fun adventure. They wanted us to participate in the International Hainan Wedding Festival, including a group wedding ceremony with 60 couples and a free hot air balloon ride. See, in order for it to be international they needed some international type people! Apparently we were first on the list of cute young foreign couples who lived in Haikou. Hooray!

We almost had to say no, because the main activity was on a Saturday. Saturdays are usually our super busy days, with 6 hours teaching each. Due to the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival though, the kids in our Saturday classes had to do make up school at their regular schools that day, and that meant all our Saturday classes were cancelled! Hooray!

I went in for a dress fitting on Friday afternoon. I was ushered into a small room lined with tables, all draped with every style of wedding dress. The room had about 15 Chinese women inside, some trying on dresses, others assisting. I was already resigned to the fact that I would probably end up with a really hideous wedding dress, so I decided to just accept the first one that fit reasonably well and had straps. I ended up with one that had more dangling jewels than I would have liked, and was way too long, but otherwise wasn't too bad. It could have been a WHOLE LOT WORSE!

So, they handed me the dress to try on, and I realized I was going to have to get naked in front of 15 women I'd just met two minutes ago. Oh well, I thought, and started unbuttoning my blouse. Two of the assistants helpfully reached over and started unbuttoning things for me and trying to pull off my clothes! Hands off the merchandise, I thought, and told them thank you, but I can do it by myself! Luckily I'd worn some of my more presentable underwear, with the thought that this kind of thing was likely to happen!

We found out that most of the other couples were staying in the hotel, and asked if we could stay there too. No problem! We went over to the Baohua hotel that night after our evening classes and checked in. Decent room, about 4 star quality, and free! We ended up staying two nights, and could have stayed another few days as well, but we had to get back home and take care of a few things. We enjoyed the Star Movie channel in the hotel room and ended up watching Encino Man (ow, my pancreas!) and Bedtime Stories (for FREEEEEEEE!!!)

Early Saturday morning we were down in the lobby for a buffet breakfast (so-so) and then we climbed in to a bus to go to Evergreen Park. Which is funny because the hotel is literally across the street from the park. We had seen the hot air balloons from the hotel windows, and we were pretty excited. One by one the 60 couples got a chance to climb in and fly up in the sky! Not too far up, as the balloons were tethered to the ground, but it was still lots of fun. The media discovered that there were FOREIGNERS (us!) and swarmed around for photos and interviews. They interviewed us in Chinese most of the time, and English a few times. They swarmed us every chance they got through the rest of the two days we were there.

After flying in the balloon, we had a dry run for the ceremony that evening and then headed back to the hotel for lunch. I was told to come down to the dressing room at 1:30 to get into my dress, and have my hair and makeup done. Getting changed was a little less traumatic this time, as there were only 4 or 5 other women in the room with me, and they let me take care of things a little bit more on my own. Then over to hair and makeup, where there were about 15 beauty stations set up! I sat and waited with the other brides for about half an hour for my turn. That was ok though, since I brought a book. They put more makeup on me than I wore at my own actual wedding. I saw they were teasing the heck out of some of the girls' hair, and that made me nervous. I have very long hair and one of the ways it stays that way is I don't do horrible things to it, like teasing! So I explained to the girl that I really didn't want her to do that, and she was very agreeable and found a style that required minimal hairspraying, too.

Then I got to relax a bit before dinner. I started completely pouring about 5 pm, so I was a little concerned since our ceremony was in Evergreen Park, and hoped they had an alternate venue in case of inclement weather! Luckily it stopped while we were eating dinner. Had to walk through a very muddy field in spiky shoes and a trailing dress though! Spent most of the time trying to hold my flowers, hold my dress out of the mud, and walk without falling down as my high heels kept sinking in. I practically never wear high heels anyway, so I was already at a disadvantage!

There was lots of standing around in the field (being interviewed!) waiting for our number to be called, as there were 60 couples and we were number 56. Finally it was our turn though, and we went up to sign our names inside a heart on a banner. Then more waiting before we walked under a flowery arch and they announced us. They said we came from Germany though, so we had to correct them! After walking blinded up the aisle as they took more photos than I think I've had taken in my entire life to date, we got to sit for a while and watch a show which featured the female dancers slapping the male dancers who were courting them. Entertaining! Then all the couples got up and recited vows, bowed to each other, and had a ten-second kiss. We all stood up on risers on the stage for a massive group photo and then it was back to the hotel to try to wash all the goo off my face, and pick off the artificial eyelashes!

In the morning we had buffet breakfast again and then everybody was bussed out to the Haikou Volcano. We were all wearing our matching red flowered shirts, and there was a real "tour group" feeling, with everybody climbing for five minutes, then stopping for one thing or another. We were given white lilies to carry, and heart shaped locks to lock onto the chain railing. (The locks symbolized our hearts forever locked together) There is a little altar halfway up and they had a group bowing and incense lighting time. We did not participate in that one. Then up to the top and back down for a really nice lunch at the base of the mountain. We ended up sitting with several couples from various parts of China so we got to play the "local" role and tell everybody about the Hainan specialty dishes we were eating.

There were apparently another 3-4 days of activities we could have participated in, but we needed to get back to our real lives (and our doggies!) so we checked out of the hotel and bid our tourguide goodbye. She tried really hard to persuade us to stick around, but finally gave us both hugs, said goodbye, and invited us to come back and do it all again next year!

[rob07]

I was travelling in Yunnan last year with some Chinese people I met hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge. We wanted to hire a van to take us from Lijiang to Shuhe, a nearby town. The driver explained that on the way there was a jewellery store that sold very expensive jade, and that if he took a group of people to the store that included a white foreigner he would get a commission. A deal was struck under which he would drive us to Shuhe for free on the condition that we stopped by the store. The driver explained that it was not necessary for us to buy anything as long as we spent at least 10 minutes looking. I think the store gave us free tea and biscuits served by the obligatory horde of pretty girls in qipao while we were looking which was nice as it was a hot day. One of the guys I was travelling with was a uni student who had just spent his last fen on his holiday in Yunnan and it was funny watching him pretending to be a jade expert who was seriously considering spending 100,000RMB on the spot to pick up a nice piece of jade. ("I like the yellow streaks in this one but the shape is not so good.")

It waa a fun experience. It was an experience "that would never be contemplated in the US or other places" as simonlaing says, but at the same time I was pretty confident that I was never risking having to share a cell with 陈良宇.

[benhadad]

That is true, it depend on who is hiring, if they want to "promote" you for the day to CEO that is their business. I know of companies in the US that are ran by Chinese who to give face would hire white guys for sales positions. Is this wrong? Some were only hired for 1 sales demonstration. Also at trade fairs etc this is common practice to have a spokes person represent a division. Also it is known that some use body doubles for security reasons, are these things illegal? No. It is illegal to represent someone who you don't have the authority to do so, at this point no evidence is given to the contrary.

I like the posting about Actors in commercials, what do you think that is?