At Shanghai Rolex Event, “Fake Crowd Members” Supposedly Offered $10/Hour…and Paid $8

Rolex has quietly closed roughly half of their stores in mainland China in the past decade, but they appear to be facing another Chinese embarrassment in June 2026. According to Chinese media outlets like NetEase and Sohu, numerous social media users have complained that they were promised the equivalent of $10-11 per hour to appear as a “crowd member” for a Rolex event in Shanghai meant to celebrate the Rolex Oyster’s 100th anniversary. However, most were apparently paid only $8 per hour or less–if anything.

Who are the Intermediaries?

It’s unlikely Rolex themselves hatched a master plan to hire “fake extras” to make their event look popular. More likely is that they gave KPI’s (key performance indicators) to a mainland Chinese marketing firm along the lines of “I want attendance of 4,000 people per day” and recruiting a few thousand crowd-members-for-hire was that firm’s way of fudging success.

Sohu.com reports that they were shown numerous job postings for “Rolex exhibition crowd-filling.” Supposedly, hiring notices like this were also circulating on WeChat that didn’t mention Rolex by name:

When and Where is the Event?

Rolex’s “Oyster Legend” event began on June 10, 2026 and runs through June 28 at the West Bund Dome in Shanghai.

Tennis player Li Na and filmmaker Jia Zhang-Ke were in attendance on opening night, and according to Gafencu, soprano Sonya Yoncheva kicked off the ceremony with a rendition of Hymne à l’amour. The interior looks fantastic, too. Alleged crowd-padding foibles aside, it looks like a pretty swanky event.

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