Foreign models "prepare for war" double eleven jobs can return home to buy a suite in three months

On August 3, the 23-year-old Belarusian model Qin Lan took a flight back to the motherland of Minsk. She took away nearly 10,000 yuan in income every day.

Every three months, Qin Hao will travel to and from Hangzhou and Minsk to renew his work visa. In September this year, she will return to Hangzhou to prepare for the double eleven.

Many foreign models like Qin Yu, who are migratory birds, can work in China for three months to buy a suite.

A few decades ago, a large number of Chinese young people went to the former Soviet Union to learn how to build a new China. Nowadays, more and more young people from Eastern European countries have come to China to “gold rush”.

According to a report from Alibaba's domestic wholesale platform 1688, there are currently about 10,000 foreign models in China, of which 7,000 are active in the Ali economy. More than half of the foreign models are from Eastern European countries. Russia accounts for 36%, Ukraine 22%, and Belarus 8%. Hangzhou is the most concentrated city for foreign models.

"Beijing people are in New York", this is a Chinese story of gold rushing out of the country. Today, thousands of foreign models are presenting the story of "European girls in Hangzhou" in China.

E-commerce opens the tide of foreign models entering China

When she first came to China to be a model in 2010, the Ukrainian girl Anna was full of disappointment. She felt that there were too many fakes and knockoffs in China, and the law and order was not good. The thief touched her house and stole the jewelry. In the sultry studio, some customers do not open air conditioners in order to save money. Anna sprinkled the fire on the makeup artist and said that the other's luxury package was like a knockoff. And the photographer quarreled for lighting problems.

Anna once wanted to return to China, but the economic situation in Ukraine was very poor. The brokerage company also lost patience with her. Xiang Lifang, director of the British model culture brokerage department, recalled that she went to Anna to communicate. When she entered the house, she found that she was bandaging a wounded bird and feeding it milk.

"I want to help her raise it, but she insists on sending the bird back to nature. At that moment, I found that she is actually very kind, and the mean side may be misunderstood." Xiang Lifang said that Anna also often adopts some stray cats and Stray dogs, wash and give away.

Xiang Lifang introduced some high-quality customers to Ali--the merchants from AliExpress and 1688, which gradually dispelled her prejudice against Chinese, Chinese and Chinese brands. Anna is more and more fond of Hangzhou, especially after the G20 summit, Hangzhou has become more modern, stylish and safe.

Anna’s personality is liked by some customers. The founder of the 1688 merchant "Fairy Pocket" said that Anna's image is stable, looks good, and has a high degree of recognition and fan loyalty. As long as Anna is willing, she will use her no matter how old.

Foreign models have entered China in a big way, which is inseparable from the development of Chinese e-commerce.

Before the advent of e-commerce, Chinese foreign models were dominated by fashion shows and auto show models.

In 1999, Alibaba was established and Chinese e-commerce started. Ali’s first business “International Station” attracted clothing companies to settle in and sell their products to foreign traders. Some brand-conscious companies will invite fashion and auto show models to make guest appearances. These models are mostly from Canada and Brazil.

In 2003, Taobao was established and Chinese e-commerce began to explode. Domestic consumers prefer white skin, big eyes and standard body beauty, which has spawned the demand for Eastern European models.

The earliest foreign model agency companies in China were born in Shanghai. With the rise of e-commerce, they have expanded to the e-commerce holy place of Hangzhou. The model culture is one of them.

Xiang Lifang recalled that in 2005, the international station and Taobao Rui were incomparable, and the British model was set up in Hangzhou to set up an office, focusing on serving Ali merchants.

In the past, when serving offline customers, Xiang Lifang did not dare to take the model to eat with customers. Individual customers who drink too much would say something crazy or do some excessive behavior. At the time, the media reported that some customers proposed a night of 10,000 yuan for the foreign model to accompany the night.

"A decade ago, there were very few foreign models, and the Chinese people looked quite strange. Many people mistakenly think that foreign models are the same as hair salon women. Every time I go back to my hometown, I will be pointed out that the daughter of Xiangjia is a model." Xiang Lifang said.

However, e-commerce customers generally "see the world", especially foreign trade merchants at international stations, often dealing with foreigners, no stranger to foreign models. Therefore, the international station merchants became the first group in China to use e-commerce models.

In 2010, Ali launched the AliExpress, a large number of Chinese brands sold directly to foreign consumers through AliExpress. With the rise of the vertical e-commerce of domestic shoes and clothing represented by Fanke and Letao, the demand for e-commerce models for foreign models has become more vigorous.

"Express Selling Generation" to Hangzhou Gold Rush

In the past few years, China's cross-border e-commerce has developed rapidly. Take AliExpress as an example. Over 8 years, it has accumulated more than 100 million overseas consumers. Thanks to the “Belt and Road Initiative” initiative, Eastern European countries have become important markets for AliExpress. Many Eastern European girls have become fans of this "international version of Taobao." AliExpress merchants took the opportunity to recruit foreign models from Eastern European countries. The 16-year-old Ukrainian girl Marina is one of them.

Marina is from Kharkov, the second largest city in Ukraine. The city is bordered by Russia and is mainly engaged in the manufacture of tractors, machine tools and power machinery. This is also the main economic feature of the CIS countries (former Soviet Union). After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Eastern European countries needed to import large quantities of daily necessities from abroad because of the underdeveloped light industry. China is the main source of imports.

Marina is often on the AliExpress "Taobao." The Eastern European media called Marina, a young man who had been shopping at AliExpress as a child, to call the AliExpress generation. Marina's father is an environmentalist, her mother is an economist, and she has a 4-year-old brother. Marinna studied Chinese Kung Fu and Tai Chi for five years. Her coach came to China to participate in the martial arts competition and told her many Chinese stories. So she will use chopsticks when she is very small, especially want to come to China to see and eat hot pot.

One day in April last year, Marina played in the park, and a Ukrainian model agency asked her if she wanted to be a model. Marina is heart-warming. She has several classmates who are doing models in China and have long wanted to go to China. But parents are worried about her upcoming "high school entrance examination." In the end, Marina and her parents reached a compromise: to go to China for a short-term model in the summer vacation.

In June of this year, Marina came to Hangzhou. This is her first time going abroad, and she has to stay alone for 3 months.

"The martial arts teacher said that China is true. Hangzhou is very modern, many parks and skyscrapers, Ukraine is not that much." Marina said.

Marina and several Eastern European models live in a high-end neighborhood near Binlong Baolong City in Hangzhou. This is a three-bedroom apartment that has five or six people. Marina and another girl squeezed into a room of ten square meters, each with a camp bed. In order to keep the models in shape and weight, the restaurant arranged for the restaurant to focus on salads, vegetables and fruits. Sometimes Marinana sneaked secretly and roommates to eat hot pot.

When I was bored, Marina would use her Chinese social software to chat with her mother video, and Tucao Airlines broke her beloved suitcase. There is always someone on the streets of Hangzhou who praises her for being beautiful. She wants to take a photo with her, but some people are bored with her mobile phone.

After coming to China for 2 months, Marina has only received one show order and six shooting assignments. The catwalk is 1800-2500 yuan, and the film is 700 yuan per hour. This price is lower than the industry average.

"Mom, I am a little sad, they (customers) prefer experienced models." Marina said in the video.

Because there is not much activity, Marina often strolls along the West Lake with a cup of "a little milk tea", or runs to the Tiger Run Spring. However, she needs to report to the brokerage company when she goes out, and she must go back to the rest in the evening and cannot bring people back to live. The brokerage company will encourage roommates to report each other through rewards and other means.

Belarusian girl who writes Chinese characters

Compared with Marina, Qin Yu (Chinese name) from Belarus is much more fortunate. She lived almost every day and was treated as a single room.

Qin Xiao’s father opened an auto repair shop, and his mother was a real estate agent.

"I don't know if this is not good for my country, but our economy is not as good as China. The job opportunities are not as many as in China. Many people can't afford a house, so my mother's business is not good. Most of the time I rest at home. Qin said.

Qin Lan climbed up almost every day at 4 o'clock in the morning and arrived at the shooting site at 7 o'clock. Now when the customer prepares the winter clothes, Qin Hao will wear the winter clothes for 11 hours at 40 degrees Celsius outside.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, Qin Lan came to see the reporter, put on a white casual shirt and denim shorts, with goose earrings, carrying a bag with the model agency LOGO. Qin Lan has a standard model body, height 172cm, weighing less than one hundred kilograms. When she saw the reporter taking pictures, she reminded me to use the retouching software, because recently Hangzhou was too hot, and she was a little tanned.

Qin Yu reluctantly revealed his age - 23 years old. "If everyone knows my age, I may earn less." Qin said.

It is a great advantage of Qin Yu to speak Chinese. She studied Chinese for 4 years at the University of Minsk, Belarus, and wrote many uncommon Chinese characters. At the beginning, she gave herself a Chinese name called Qin Fei. Later, the brokerage company suggested changing it to Qin. "I know what you mean, but it doesn't matter, it's fun." Qin said.

In 2015, Qin Yu was given a chance to study in China for one semester through the Confucius Institute because of his good Chinese. At that time, she had several Chinese universities to choose from, but she chose Zhejiang University.

"Many of our classmates are buying things at AliExpress. I also know that AliExpress is headquartered in Hangzhou, and there is a jack ma (Ma Yun) in Hangzhou, so I want to study in Hangzhou." Qin Zhen came to China and found that the Chinese population has no legend. So dense, traffic jams are much better than Thailand.

After returning home, she officially became a professional model, first sent to South Korea. However, Qin Hao feels that Korean customers say good things in person, and they always spoke to the brokerage company, so the customers are unstable. Chinese customers are relatively straightforward. For example, a customer recently reminded you that you have a small stomach. Moreover, in South Korea, the income of the foreign model is calculated according to the day, many customers will deliberately take a late job, but charge in China on an hourly basis. She also considers Japan in the past, but Japan mainly needs the "gentle model" of 14-16 years old.

Due to the solution of language barriers, Qin Hao’s life and business in China are very good. However, the most troublesome thing for her is that many hotels do not accept foreign guests. She often drags boxes to find places to live at night.

"Sexually cold" lost to "wheat color"

Xiang Lifang said that most of the current models in Huayang are mainly in Eastern Europe, aged 16-18 years old, and occasionally there are children's outerwear models. The ratio of male to female is 1:5. The male model is mainly in Shanghai, and the female model is mainly in Hangzhou.

Foreign models usually start in 4-8 hours. The price ranges from 1,000 yuan to 1,500 yuan, 2,000 yuan and more than 2,000 yuan. The price of a show is 2500-4000 yuan.

One-third of the models have orders every day, one-third take a day off, and there are very few orders left. The five senses, body, temperament, lens feel, age, skin color and nationality all affect the model's worth.

Most foreign models have a general family economy. Of course, there are also several Ferraris in the family, the second generation with the mother and the nanny to China, and the rural girls from the poor areas of Siberia. The family economy has a good shooting task.

"If the family condition is weaker, it may be less confident and affect the shooting effect." Xiang Lifang said.

Some foreign models will be secretly part-time in nightclubs, shopping malls, weddings, exhibitions and pre-school training institutions because of their unsatisfactory work. Some mall stores will use the "spelling" mode to find foreign models to take pictures. However, the foreign model circle is very small, and it is easy to find a part-time job outside the private sector. A friend of Xiang Lifang once saw a foreign girl dancing in a nightclub. After photographing it to Xiang Lifang, she found that it was a model of the British model culture. The model was sent back to China the next day.

Before 2014, foreign models entered China mainly as tourist visas or foreign trade visas. After 2014, China issued a three-month work visa to foreign models. Once a foreign model is discovered because of illegal employment, it will be fined less than 1,000 yuan. If the circumstances are serious, it will be required to leave the country within a limited time. Brokerage companies and individual agencies will also be fined between 5,000 and 50,000 yuan.

As the foreign model market enters the norm period, foreign models migrate once every three months like migratory birds. However, the "prey birds" have a short shelf life. Xiang Lifang said that in general, foreign models who are over 22 years old will be carefully considered. Therefore, the foreign model industry will basically change people every other year.

In a short career, foreign models must fight against their physical development. Many foreign models have experienced sharp declines in orders due to their physical development. For example, a male model called "Brazil Little Prince" in the circle, because the body size has been much stronger in a year, the workload has been reduced from 20 hours a week to 6 hours.

The development of cross-border e-commerce has given birth to small-volume, personalized and even customized needs of foreign users, which has led to subtle changes in the market demand for foreign models.

Hangzhou Senyu Apparel is a cross-border e-commerce company established in 2015. It sells its products to overseas users through AliExpress, and wholesales products to overseas traders through the 1688 cross-border exclusive market. In order to create a sense of brand, Mori costumes will have two or three foreign models every month. The company's visual manager Zhu Xuebei told reporters that Mori's clothing is the main holiday style, and it needs a model of "wheat color".

“Foreigners often go on holiday, enjoy the sun, the skin is healthier, and our products also want to focus on this mind. Now the market is mainly Eastern European models. Their sweet and cold feelings are not suitable for us. We prefer to be more active. South American model." Zhu Xuebei said.

Mori's clothing has selected all the models on the platform for overseas users to select, and the results are selected by Brazilian models. Zhu Xuebei said that lively, infectious and sexy, this is the main reason why Brazilian models are very popular among foreign users. However, it is difficult to find a model in China. Even if they are found, the model's schedule is hard to agree. They often need to go on holiday to enjoy the sun in order to maintain their skin color.

With the increase in the demand for “wheat color”, South American models have become more popular in China after more than a decade. Xiang Lifang said that the foreign model circle has also become a South American gang and an Eastern European gang. They generally do not eat, drink, and play together, but they all love to meet privately with photographers.

The final destination of migratory birds

Whether it is an Eastern European model or a South American model, the best times in China may be over, and more and more Chinese companies are starting to look abroad for models.

The European Night Trade, which was established at the same time as AliExpress, mainly engaged in international and domestic wholesale trade of sexy underwear. Among them, more than 3 million pieces are exported every year through international stations, and more than 300,000 pieces are sold to domestic cross-border businesses every year through 1688.

Jiang Feng, head of the company, said that the freight and customs clearance costs in the Eastern European market are higher than those in Europe and the United States, so their export focus is leaning toward Europe and the United States. The European and American users are overweight, and the demand for large size underwear is very large, so the "Fat MM" model is needed. But the foreign models in China are basically standard bodies.

Therefore, the European night trade chose to go abroad to find top models to film. For example, using the "Victoria's Secret" model, but the price is ten times that of domestic models.

"The foreign models active in China are mostly from Eastern Europe. They are economically poor areas. They are mainly gold-minded, but many models in Western Europe are professional-grade, and the overall temperament is much better." Jiang Feng said.

In addition to the rapid changes in customer demand, the rejuvenation of consumer groups and the changes in the field of new technology (such as Ali fashion AI technology to bring consumers the magic mirror fitting experience), let the foreign models survive in China The harder it is.

In this regard, Xiang Lifang said that the demand for foreign models in China will continue, but foreign models without media capabilities will be difficult to receive. For the store, the model has the ability to secure the customer and add traffic.

Earlier media reports said that many foreign models working in China for three months, they can return to buy a suite. But what impressed Xiang Lifang was a little Brazilian girl who came to China twice to make a model and earned 20,000 US dollars. After returning to Brazil, she improved her family economy, but her parents divorced.

“Being a model in China, I can do it at most 30 years old, but I only want to do it for another two years, then stay in China to start a business as a clothing brand, and then sell it back to Belarus through AliExpress. If I meet a suitable Chinese boy, I am willing Marry him." Qin said that if she can't start a business, she wants to be an actor or net red in China. She made a vibrating sound and gained 120,000 fans a month.

Xiang Lifang said that many foreign models chose to stay in China. Some male models and female models get married and stay in China to open chain cafes; some male models opened a women's underwear store in Hangzhou; others became model agents; some stayed in China to study and work; of course, there were also fallen Go to bars, nightclubs and even outside women.

What impressed Xiang Lifang was that there was an Australian female model who was introduced to a Chinese rich second generation. The female model went to Japan to film, and the rich second generation "fighted a fly" to chase. The two finally married and had children and settled in Shanghai.

Qin Lan, who is returning to China for vacation, will ride a bicycle every day and will be happy with her parents to buy food and cook. In the past few days, she has been receiving information from a strange Chinese male student requesting a blind date: I am a Shandong native, 91 years old, doing software testing in Lujiazui, smart and potential, people understand romance, is a pure and interesting person. With a monthly salary of 16,000, I plan to settle in Shanghai.