How China’s child modelling boom turned small town into magnet for ambitious parents
- Families are relocating to Zhili, where the growing child garment industry means models can earn up to US$1,500 a day
- Young children work long hours and miss schooling in attempt to win big contracts as companies clamour for star quality
Thousands of children across mainland China are being taken by their parents to a small town in the country’s east to try to clinch modelling contracts.
A booming child garment industry in Zhili town, in Huzhou in Zhejiang province, provides plenty of opportunities for child models, attracting parents who take their children there to attend model training and try to pick up modelling work for commercials, news portal Sina.com reports.
Child models earn 80 to 150 yuan (about US$12-22) for a shoot involving one outfit, or up to about 10,000 yuan (US$1,500) a day for modelling more than 100 outfits.
The most popular models reportedly earn 1 million yuan a year, while even moderately successful ones have incomes of hundreds of thousands of yuan, according to the report.
There are roughly 10,000 child garment manufacturers in Zhili, where the population is normally about 100,000. Thanks to the child model sector, that swells to 350,000 around peak times such as the annual shopping initiative Singles’ Day, or Double 11, in November.