How much money does a model make in Beijing?

Yesterday’s Legal Mirror column ‘Checking Your Pockets’ showed us how much you can make if you work as a model in Beijing. Models were divided

into four main categories: advertising models (广告模特), professional hand models (专业手模), child models (儿童模特), and life drawing models (彩绘模特).

Famous and experienced advertising models can ask for daily fees up to RMB50,000 (about USD6,000); less famous and inexperienced models get much less than that: RMB3,000 to 9,000 (USD360 to 720) per day, whereas young girls just starting out can make about RMB500 a day (USD60). However, most models are managed by agencies, which take as much as 60% of each model’s revenue.

If you are ugly but have beautiful and slender hands, starting a career in the hand modeling business might be a good way to make some cash: there are plenty of products that need a helping hand to showcase their charm, from watches to mobile phones, from jewelry to cosmetics, hands can be worth RMB5,000 to 10,000 (USD600 to 1,200) a pop.

When it comes to the kids’ modeling business, the Beijing scene still seems a bit green if compared with other markets, which may not be a bad thing after all. In fact, Legal Mirror reveals that the kids used on ads are usually not paid cash: most agencies prefer to scout the little cuties among friends or clients, who apparently are happy to get in return little gifts like kids’ clothes (indeed very expensive) or toys.

According to the Legal Mirror investigation, professional life drawing models have seen their business shrinking in the past three years. Quoting a non-clearly specified ‘tighter control by the authorities’ on this category (perhaps the real life representations of their bodies were too real?), since 2003 there are fewer opportunities to work. The emergence of ‘free lance models’ (野模) on the market has also taken away a big chunk of profits from the professional ones. Until 2002 a professional life drawing model could make up to RMB8,000 (USD1,000) a day; it’s now down to RMB2,000.