Some Chinese employers have taken to hiring expats for token roles in order to impress their investors, customers and local authorities. During these short-term, lucrative gigs, expats are attributed fake titles and responsibilities. Their true role is to act as foreign employees during certain events, such as inaugurations or speeches, for instance.
Mitch Moxley, who gave it a go, tells the story of his experience as a fake quality controller in an article for The Atlantic magazine. He was paid $1,000 a week, and put up in a nice hotel in Dongying, an industrial town in Shandong province. Every day, like six other fake employees, he went to the job site, toured the facilities. . . and then spent hours in the office twiddling his thumbs. The purpose of the charade is to enhance the employer’s image—having a few foreigners on the payroll is apparently a symbol of prestige, wealth, and strategic business connections.
Such “professional opportunities” are primarily pursued by actors and models in search of a job, as well as expatriates seeking to make some extra cash on the side. The advantage is that the selection criteria are relatively easy to meet: you just need to be white, not speak Chinese and act as though you just stepped off the plane!