Tian Yuan Yuan is China`s top Internet model, a title she earned by promoting products from skin-tight leggings to rabbit fur bags through online shopping site Taobao Marketplace.
田媛媛是中国第一网络名模。她在淘宝上为商家推广从紧身打底裤到兔毛手袋等商品，从而获得了这一称呼。
Tian is one of 35,000 models who pose for virtual storefronts on Alibaba Group`s Taobao.
田媛媛是3.5万名为阿里巴巴集团旗下的淘宝网店工作的模特之一。
With little to differentiate between more than 6 million electronic storefronts, models like Tian have become the main attraction. Taobao ranks the girls based on sales of the products they pitch, as well as their popularity among vendors and fans who can vote on the website. Sellers can then make an online booking to hire a girl to pose with their product.
淘宝逾600万家网店几乎大同小异，所以像田媛媛这样的模特自然成为主要卖点。淘宝依据她们所推广商品的销量，以及她们在商铺和粉丝中的人气对她们进行排名。随后商家便可以在线预约聘请一位“淘女郎”来推销自家产品。
"A good model is important for sales," said 22-year-old Tian. "Both your facial expression and body language should match the style of clothing. For example, I will move and pose gently with office dresses, while I act cool in American style clothes."
22岁的田媛媛表示：“好模特对于提高销量很重要。你的面部表情和肢体语言都应该与衣服款式搭配。比如，如果穿的是职业装，我的动作和造型都会十分优雅，而如果换做是一身美式服装，我就要表现得酷劲十足。”
The leggings she modelled sold some 14,000 units in a single month. She also helped shift more than 6,000 rabbit fur bags.
经她推广的打底裤月销量达到约1.4万条。她还帮助商家卖出了6,000多个兔毛手袋。
The models can make as much as 10,000 yuan a day, a far cry from the five-figure payouts top supermodels bank for a photo shoot, but a healthy sum considering average per capita full-year income for urban Chinese was just 21,810 yuan in 2011.
这些网模一天的收入可高达一万，虽然跟日进斗金的超级名模没法儿比，但相比普通民众的人均年收入，这一数字已经非常可观了。2011年，中国城镇居民人均年收入仅为2.18万元。
Alibaba is not alone in offering logistical support to small online businesses. EBay Inc, for example, owns online payment service PayPal that helps small vendors accept credit card payments. But Alibaba`s models-for-hire service is unusual in that it does back-end jobs such as photography as well as being a platform that supplies the models themselves.
阿里巴巴并非是唯一一家向电子商家提供后勤支持的平台。比如，易趣拥有在线支付服务贝宝（PayPal），这项服务使得小商户可以接受信用卡支付。但像阿里巴巴这种提供待聘模特的服务不太常见，因为它不仅提供拍照之类的后台工作，也是一个提供模特的平台。
A Taobao store owner can use the free platform to search for models by price or look, or even by specific body part such as hands or legs. Models classified as "Japanese" or "Korean" tend to look younger while "European" and "American" models have more Caucasian features.
淘宝店主可利用这个免费平台，根据模特的价格或外形，甚至是手或腿等身体的特定部分，寻找相应的模特。“日韩系”模特往往比较年轻，而“欧美系”模特则具备更多的白人特征。
"I used to rely on models provided by modelling agencies but because each agency has only a limited number of models, it couldn`t meet my business needs," said Huang Shanlei, who sells lingerie on Taobao Mall.
出售女式内衣的淘宝店店主黄珊蕾(音)说：“我过去靠的是模特经纪公司介绍模特，但由于每家公司的模特数量有限，无法满足我的业务需求。”
Working the "office lady" look
“职业女性”范儿
Working with Taobao models was easier because most of them were free agents with fewer restrictions on the types of assignments they could accept or on how the photographs from a shoot could be used, Huang said.
黄珊蕾表示，与淘宝模特们的合作相对更容易，因为她们中的大多数都是自由从业者，有关她们接拍任务的类型以及所拍摄照片用途的限制较少。
Model Li Qiqi poses for different stores back to back on most days, sometimes in more than 200 outfits a day. With big doll eyes, she describes her look as "Korean office lady".
模特李琦琦（音译）大多数日子都会连续为不同店铺拍照，有时一天需要试穿200多套衣服。长着一双洋娃娃般大眼睛的她称自己的外形像“韩国职业女性”。
"If you model on Taobao, you focus on the specialties of the outfit and the features of the outfit. You make sure you don`t block it when posing," said 24-year-old Li, a Shanghai native.
作为土生土长的上海人，24岁的李琦琦说：“做淘宝网模，你需要注意服装的特色。要确保你在拍摄时不会喧宾夺主。”