Rent a white guy  JUN 15 2010

Chinese companies are temporarily hiring white men to pose as fake businessmen.

One friend, an American who works in film, was paid to represent a Canadian company and give a speech espousing a low-carbon future. Another was flown to Shanghai to act as a seasonal-gifts buyer. Recruiting fake businessmen is one way to create the image -- particularly, the image of connection -- that Chinese companies crave. My Chinese-language tutor, at first aghast about how much we were getting paid, put it this way: "Having foreigners in nice suits gives the company face."

(thx, goob)