BEIJING and SALTSPRING ISLAND, B.C. — Less than 48 hours after the killing of Diana Gabrielle O'Brien, the modelling agency that lured her to China has shut down its website, closed its doors, and vanished into the depths of Shanghai.
Its phones ring without answer. Its low-rent offices are abandoned. Those with apparent connections to the agency are refusing to talk. Even the Shanghai police are unwilling to speak of the case. The slaying of Ms. O'Brien, the 22-year-old model from Saltspring Island, B.C., has exposed the dark and dangerous side of China's fast-growing modelling business. Dozens of modelling agencies have sprung up in China's biggest cities in recent years, recruiting hundreds of models from North America and Europe, but many are small fly-by-night agencies that send their models to dubious jobs at nightclubs and bars.
Ms. O'Brien was unhappy with her Shanghai assignment because she was often asked to work as a bar dancer on promotional gigs for liquor products, her friends said.
She arrived in Shanghai last month after being recruited by JH Model Agency, which describes itself as “one of the leading modelling agencies in the East of China.”
The body of British Columbia model Diana Gabrielle O’Brien, 22, of Salt Spring Island, was found near Shanghai Tuesday in what Chinese police are reportedly treating as a homicide. (The Canadian Press)
Related Articles
Photogallery
In reality, the agency was one of the smallest and least-known in Shanghai. Just hours after the news of Ms. O'Brien's death, the agency's phone lines were disconnected or unanswered, and its website had been taken down.
Earlier, the website had contained dozens of photos of Chinese and foreign models, although it was unclear if they actually worked for the agency.
On the Internet, the JH agency listed two office addresses in central Shanghai. But visits to the two locations found that both were cheap apartments in shabby buildings where many apartments have been converted to low-rent offices.
Those who knew Ms. O'Brien provided conflicting reports about her feelings about going to China.
The mother of her boyfriend Joel Berry – who remembers her as an incredible young person who “lit up a room” – said that, “She had a little bit of a mixed feeling about [the China trip], but she saw it as a chance to further her life experience.”
But the manager of a Saltspring Island restaurant where Ms. O'Brien had worked between modelling jobs said the young woman's major concern had been that she would miss Mr. Berry and her friends. Heather McDonnell said Ms. O'Brien had been to Milan on a modelling assignment and had returned full of enthusiasm. “She felt very safe in Milan and had that same feeling going to [Shanghai] as well. She seemed to be really excited and felt extraordinarily safe going over there, and protected, and she had worked with the agency and had a wonderful experience in Milan.”
The Globe and Mail tracked down a man named Jiang Jiawei in Shanghai, a recruiter for the JH agency. His phone number is provided in the agency's recruitment advertisements.
In an interview, Mr. Jiang refused to say anything about his connection to the JH agency. And he would not comment on Ms. O'Brien or her death. “You should just ask the police,” he said.
Johnny Zheng, director of Esee Model Management, a well-known agency in Shanghai, said he first became aware of the JH agency when one of his staff alerted him that the JH website was a direct copy of the format and style of Esee's website. But he took no action because the JH agency was so small and unknown that it was not a competitor to his agency, he said.
“We had never heard of them, and I've never heard our bookers mentioning them as a competitor,” Mr. Zheng said in an interview Tuesday.
“There are a lot of small agencies in China. Some of them are just one person with a computer, like a dealer. Some of them don't treat their models professionally. If a girl can't earn back her money, the agency doesn't pay the commission, or doesn't pay the model. It leads to unprofessional activities. Sometimes their passports are taken away.”
A few months ago, Shanghai's biggest modelling agencies held a meeting and decided to refuse any promotional jobs at bars and nightclubs, Mr. Zheng said.
“If they want the girl to dress in a bikini or sexy clothing to sell beer, we don't do it. We tell the models not to do it; that's our policy. We don't want to take the risk. But small agencies might do it.”
Mr. Zheng says he advises his models to travel together in pairs, and not to stay out too late, to avoid risks to their personal safety. “We remind them of the risks,” he said. “The dangers are minimized if the agency is professional.”
