Young American working in China earning only 1500 RMB a Month (2008)

[cnleio]

Young American Working in China Earns Only 1500 RMB a Month(2008)
A real story in 2008, China TianJin city.

Update: While alluded to in the Chinese netizen comments translated below and pointed out by various chinaSMACK commenters as well, to clarify, these photos and the story attached to them are from a 2008 discussion forum post titled “Financial Crisis, Foreigner Comes to China to be Blue Collar Worker” that quickly spread across the Chinese internet at the time (and is currently experiencing a resurgence, hence the translation below).

It was subsequently reported (and now re-reported) that the man featured in the photos was actually a model hired to do advertising for the company, had entered the workshop to experience what it was like, and the photos were taken by an employee of the company assigned to accompany him during his visit. This employee decided to post the photos and fabricate a story relating to the then topical world financial crisis, which came to light when investigating Chinese reporters went to the factory, found that no such employee exists, and company management explained what had happened.

Please note that the images in this post have been edited to remove the model’s likeness in consideration of the model’s desire for privacy while preserving the integrity of the translation and reporting of this story.

Original China news: 美国一男子在中国打工 称月薪仅1500元

American Young Man Working in China, Says Monthly Salary Only 1500 Yuan

Recently, a netizen photographed an American young man working at a Tianjin bicycle factory. The 22-year-old young man, named Crow [may be transliteration], is from a small town in Ohio, and has been in China for two years. His monthly salary is said to be only 1500 RMB.

 

[Fattyacids]

Cant' see the face

 

[cnleio]

Cant' see the face

Click 2nd Chinese media link, pics show young boy's face.

 

[cnleio]

Photo is of this American man’s dorm room.

 

[naveen mishra]

what i have information that...american is in highest number round 10000 working as expat in china.........second no is German and Austrian.......because very often i use to interact with SMS Germany and semens VAI(austrian),henkel (Germany),quaker,hitachi japan etc............as per my information....no buddy is working for chines company.............mostly MNC has invested money in china.....and all are working as expat..........

 

[cnleio]

Well 2008 he working in China bicycle factory, 1,500 RMB salary was a very low wage. Today 2013 worker's normal wage in factory assembly lines from 2,500 to 3,000 RMB (prices & wages rising during recent years), if he working in offices maybe now 4,000-6,000 RMB, if he got a promotion as a manager maybe 7,000-12,000 RMB. I hope few years experiences in China factory had changed this American boy, whatever the American boy still working in China or back to America, he was changed and a wealth in whole life.

Hope he can come true his "American Dream" in China.

 

[jpsingh]

Few of my classmates/friends are earning $6000-$8000 USD/month in china.
There are engineers.

Well 2008 he working in China bicycle factory, 1,500 RMB salary was a very low wage. Today 2013 worker's normal wage in factory assembly lines from 2,500 to 3,000 RMB (prices & wages rising during recent years), if he working in offices maybe now 4,000-6,000 RMB, if he got a promotion as a manager maybe 7,000-12,000 RMB. I hope few years experiences in China factory had changed this American boy, whatever the American boy still working in China or back to America, he was changed and a wealth in whole life.

Hope he can come true his "American Dream" in China.

 

[senheiser]

he wants just to get famous, he sure writes a book after it calling it ''searching for my job in china'' or something. After that he gets rich etc.

 

[walle]

this was fake, the guy was a "model" (loosely defined, any white person in China could be a model back in 2008). The bicycle company's boss admitted it that they did it to gain publicity but that obviously failed.

ÀÏÍâÖйúµ±À¶ÁìΪ¹¤³§ÊµÏ°Ñ§Éú˽´´_°®Âê 91hong ¹¤³§ÊµÏ° ѧÉú ÀÏÍâ ÀÏÍâÖйúµ±À¶ÁìΪ¹¤³§ÊµÏ°Ñ§Éú˽´´_¹ö¶¯ÐÂÎÅ_ÎÂÖÝÍø

爱玛电动自行车厂姜彦文经理表示：“我们工厂确实没有这个美国人，他是广告公司找来的平面模特。
姜经理说：“那个外国人确实叫克罗，但是是瑞士人，在中国语言大学学习，是一个业余模特，来我们公司是为拍摄新型电动车的广告.



China is being flooded with expats with no real skill other than a white face, they are there to each english since they can't get a job back home due to the economy, with the comparatively low cost of living, they live a lifestyle they could never afford before.

 

[naveen mishra]

this was fake, the guy was a "model" (loosely defined, any white person in China could be a model back in 2008). The bicycle company's boss admitted it that they did it to gain publicity but that obviously failed.

ÀÏÍâÖйúµ±À¶ÁìΪ¹¤³§ÊµÏ°Ñ§Éú˽´´_°®Âê 91hong ¹¤³§ÊµÏ° ѧÉú ÀÏÍâ ÀÏÍâÖйúµ±À¶ÁìΪ¹¤³§ÊµÏ°Ñ§Éú˽´´_¹ö¶¯ÐÂÎÅ_ÎÂÖÝÍø

爱玛电动自行车厂姜彦文经理表示：“我们工厂确实没有这个美国人，他是广告公司找来的平面模特。
姜经理说：“那个外国人确实叫克罗，但是是瑞士人，在中国语言大学学习，是一个业余模特，来我们公司是为拍摄新型电动车的广告.

white man for popularity ............from when chines started facing inferiority complex

 

[walle]

white man for popularity ............from when chines started facing inferiority complex

The poorer parts of China still admire westerners, they get white people to act as "doctors/professors in their scammy commercials" but for eastern coastal cities like Shanghai every 3rd guy is a laowai of some sort, many are oversea chinese.

 

[Fsjal]

When did an American start working in China?
Is this the first time a Westerner works in China?

 

[walle]

When did an American start working in China?
Is this the first time a Westerner works in China?

Far from, there are countless of westerners work in China illegally, with dodgy visas etc... Nearly all of them are english teachers. teaching the people how to speak

The ESL textbook rude enough to make even a hardened laowai blush: Shanghaiist

 

[cnleio]

Few of my classmates/friends are earning $6000-$8000 USD/month in china.
There are engineers.

￥36,000 - ￥ 48,000 /month in China ... R u sure ? Ur classmates must living in China Heaven here.
They r programer/coder employed by foreign company working in China ?? That incomes in China city belong to the rich, much more than most Chinese ppl.

 

[Audio]

Last year, at the height of the euro crisis and after some bickering with gf i actually entertained the idea of moving to China. I figured i'll probably never move to Switzerland because the people are so uptight and downright snobbish and my granma considers me the black sheep of the family because i'm in the music business.
I'd still sell my products through connections i've made over the past years, all i'd need in China is a room with padded walls for reduced echo (a must for any home studio arrangement), an email and transportation for the studio gear. With the current amount of money i'm earning, i'd be quite well off in in China, even in coastal cities.

I even went to check for jobs if for example something happened to my gear and i couldn't produce enough in a short time and i'd have to make do on the spot when savings ran out. To my surprise i found a lot of English teaching openings, iirc average salary was ~10.000 yuan and some even had amenities like furnished flat, return for bus fare etc....

Then gf and i got together again and i sort of stopped thinking about moving to new horizons (was also considering Australia, Germany and Japan)
Though ever since she started blabbering about marriage and children i've been having flashbacks of moving again lol.