I spent some time living in China after college (pre-pandemic). There are more and less reputable programs to provide English language teachers and tutors to kids of various ages. As a fairly unexceptional student, I ended up in one of the less reputable one.
Practically none of those programs pay any real money. You usually can expect some very basic worse than your college dorm room and board, with little more than a weekly stipend beyond that. There are enough kids looking for a year or two of an adventure that they don’t have to offer more.
The culture shock was very real. As a tall, fit, pretty conventionally attractive blonde guy, I got a lot of attention. We’re well past the time where it’s weird to see white people in big Chinese cities, and it’s not like the people are gawking. It’s a lot more of a complex relationship.
The urge to flex wealth and status has become sort of tied up in the complicated, competitive feelings about the west and about Americans in particular. If you’re a decently attractive white person, you’ll be approached with offers to attend clubs or events, work at parties, and so on. Some of these offers are very legitimate. Some of them are a lot sketchier.
Like most of the people in my program, when I needed money, I’d take some of these odd jobs. Being a token white guy, or working some event, would make me enough for some better meals, or some traveling and exploring.
After a little while, it became clear that there were people in my program who were making more money like this than others. I made some discreet inquiries with one guy who was about to leave to return to the US after 2 years and he laid it all out for me.
He had supplemented his stipend by working discreet private gatherings. A handful of closeted gay Chinese men would have a party where they wanted a white guy to attend. A bit less commonly, it was just a few wealthy businessman types who wanted a hedonistic little escape – they’d hire girls and sometimes even a guy, get blackout drunk, and fuck.
I was broke and open minded enough to ask him to put me in touch with the guy he got those offers and invitations from. I had some fun experiences, and definitely some weird experiences. If you’re interested send me a chat request!
Source: reddit.com/r/gonewildstories/comments/wbbqa6/mm_gay_for_pay_adventures_abroad