Screengrab from a controversial Chinese live streaming footage showing a woman eating a banana "erotically." (Photo : Twitter)
Among the streaming activities on China’s internet, it is starlets who take advantage of live-streaming to gain online fame and enjoy financial security as a streaming hostess. However, following the restrictions placed by Chinese authorities on streaming sites, the starlets are using girl-next-door vibes.
Talent Agencies
Helping the thousands of starlets gain online fame are talent agencies that train Chinese women on streaming platforms and programs. While the girls appear to be broadcasting from their homes, they are actually airing from agency buildings. The offices of talent agencies are made to look like girls’ bedrooms by pacing shaggy pillows and stuffed animals, The Week reported.
Like call centers across Asia, the girls work in shifts and sell products, mainly virtual products paid with real money which is split among the starlets, agencies and online platform. Girls are trained to create a character with appearances that online users would befriend.
For young women whose faces would need cosmetic surgery to improve their physical appearance, the agency would help bank loans to pay for surgeries and other procedures. About 95 percent of the starlets have undergone procedures. One starlet who underwent a nose lift and injection of facial fat that lasted five hours said that 72 hours of pain in exchange for three to five years of good looks is worth it.
Earn $100 an Hour
Calvin Ayre reported that China has almost 700 million online users who use a live-streaming app such as Huajiao and Inke. Starlets using those apps could earn up to $100 an hour from viewers who buy from the online anchors virtual products.
To monitor online streaming activities, in 2016, the Cyberspace Administration of China released 24 new restrictions that mandate online video streaming services to keep copies of all user data and content for 60 days beginning Dec. 1.
