NOT LONG AGO I was offered work as a quality-control expert with an American company in China Iâd never heard of. No experience necessaryâwhich was good, because I had none. Iâd be paid $1,000 for a week, put up in a fancy hotel, and wined and dined in Dongying, an industrial city in Shandong province Iâd also never heard of. The only requirements were a fair complexion and a suit. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/rent-a-white-guy/8119/
From the comment section: How to get acting jobs in China: 1. Be attractive. 2. For men: pack a suit & tie 3. Live in Beijing, cheap apt. in Haidian district is best. 4. Hang out at Beijing Language & Culture University. Thats where I was "discovered" 5. Or try this: in the early mornings (7am) hang out at the front gate of the Beijing Film Academy where TV & film crews are meeting before driving off to work. Approach other foreigners and try to meet their agents. Its the agents who will get you the work. And they will make most of the money. I was working 3-5 days a month, making $100/day doing advertisements and the occasional scam gig as described here. You're not going to get week-long $1k jobs very often. BTW, for those of you raising moral issues - unless you're fluent in Chinese you often won't know what the job will be until you get there.