From Cover, issue no. 345, December 10th, 2007
Translated by Zuo Maohong
Original article: [Chinese]

"Xu Sanduo practiced martial arts for only six years. I've spent ten. He made it... Why can't I?"

Li Xinjun is one of countless aspiring actors waiting anxiously at the gate of the Beijing Film Studio for a chance at stardom. A week ago, Li was moving bricks at a construction site for an hourly wage. He quit shortly after watching Soldiers Sortie, a well-received TV series where Wang Baoqiang, a former extra on the show, plays the leading character Xu Sanduo, a role that rocketed his acting career.

For years, the Beijing Film Studio, the biggest in China, has had a crowd amass daily just beyond its gates, eager to be scooped up by scouts looking for temporary actors. They have been called beipiao, or "Beijing wanderers"—a term that has since been used more generally to describe those who come from elsewhere to work and live in Beijing.

If Li had ever read the stories of those who started from scratch in Studs Kertel's American Dreams: Lost and Found, he would have been encouraged. Born in 1967 in a small town in Shangdong province, middle-aged Li has experienced quite a lot in his life: ten years of martial arts practicing, eight years of farming, four years as a construction worker, and a week as an extra on films and TV series.

But Wang Baoqiang's story has given Li enough courage to sit and wait in front of the studio, and, enough bravado day after day to cram his way into buses heading for filming spots.

At 6:00am on December 4th, Li caught a bus headed to a film shoot for Mei Lanfang. He was paid 30 yuan for a day's work as a temporary actor. The next day was his most lucrative of that week; he was paid 100 yuan to act in a hospital commercial.

Li often shows the screensaver of his cell phone, which displays a picture of him wearing a fierce suit of armor. "I acted a soldier in Cao Cao's army," he says, referring to his role as an extra in the hotly anticipated film, Chibi.

Cao Cao was a king during the "three kingdoms" period in the Chinese history, who lost an important battle against the ally of the other two kingdoms in Chibi.

Li says he was recommended to the Chibi crew by A Sheng, a friend who has worked at the studio's gate for half a year.