Hiring a Chinese-speaking assistant based in China

A Chinese-speaking assistant based in mainland China can chase suppliers in Chinese chat, read and summarize Chinese sources, book and confirm things and make calls during China’s working day. Hire one for a defined task list with outcomes, paid per batch of tasks, not as a part-time employee. Specialist work, such as inspections or contracts, goes to a specialist.

Example. A small homeware brand in Toronto is waiting on three suppliers. All three answer only in Chinese chat, and only during China’s working day, which in November starts at 20:00 Toronto time. An assistant in Ningbo picks up the three threads at nine in the morning there, gets answers from all three by lunch and sends a six-line summary in English. It is waiting in Toronto when the team wakes up.

The task menu: what an assistant in China is for

Our selection of common tasks. Each row is one line you can paste into a brief.

The first six rows are what an assistant is for: things that need a Chinese speaker in China’s hours, and a clear note back in English. The last two need someone who has done that one job many times, and so does any translation longer than a message; translation prices shows what that costs. If you are hiring someone to find suppliers rather than follow up with them, that is a different role, and hiring a freelance sourcing agent covers it.

An assistant’s work is only as useful as the note that comes back. A good one is dated, says what was asked and what was answered, and attaches the evidence, such as a screenshot of the supplier’s reply or the tracking number exactly as the courier gave it. Without that, you are taking a summary on trust. Ask for the evidence in the brief, so the price includes it.

Choosing an assistant is no different from choosing any other freelancer. Ask for one past summary or call note with the client’s name removed, hold a short call in English and pay for one small trial batch before the first full week. Vetting a freelancer in China sets out the checks in order, and finding freelancers in China covers where to look if you would rather not post a brief. For translation work, a short test on your own text tells you more than a certificate.

Scope it as tasks, not hours

1. List the recurring tasks for the next four weeks.
2. Write the result each one must produce: a summary, a call note, a table.
3. Group them into a weekly batch with a fixed fee per batch.
4. Agree a response window in China’s hours.
5. Review each batch against the list before you pay.

For step 4, pick a window that overlaps a little with your own day, so a question from either side can be answered the same day. Working across time zones with a freelancer in China helps you find it.

The fee covers the tasks on the list and nothing else. When something new comes up midweek, a second courier or a fourth supplier, it goes into next week’s batch or gets its own price before the assistant starts on it. That rule sounds stiff, but it keeps the fee fair on both sides, and it stops the list from turning into “whatever comes up.”

There is a legal reason too. “Be my assistant 20 hours a week, follow my rules and report to my manager” describes a job. China’s 2005 notice on labor relations treats a relationship as employment, even without a written contract, when three tests all hold, and the second is the one an open-ended assistant role tends to meet.

On the other side of the line, the 2021 guidance from the human resources ministry and other departments (人社部发〔2021〕56号) says that people who run their own business or freelance through a platform are governed by civil law. A weekly batch with stated results, which the assistant organizes as they see fit, sits much closer to that. Contractor or employee sets out both texts, and the freelance services agreement gives you a contract written around deliverables.

A first week, written as a brief

Example. The Toronto brand’s first week, as it would post it:

1. Supplier quotes. Ask three suppliers for updated quotes on the 30 cm stoneware bowl. Result: one English table with each supplier’s price, minimum order, date of reply and a screenshot of the reply.
2. Samples. Confirm the dispatch date and tracking number for two samples. Result: the courier name and tracking numbers, in one message, by Wednesday.
3. Catalog page. Read one supplier’s Chinese catalog page for its glaze range. Result: a one-page summary with the link and the date read.
4. Courier call. Call the courier about a parcel held in Shanghai. Result: a call note saying who was called, when and what was agreed.
5. Price check. Record the listed prices of five similar bowls on a Chinese shopping platform. Result: a dated table with links.

The bid sets one fee for the whole batch. The assistant answers messages from 09:00 to 11:00 and from 16:00 to 18:00 China time on weekdays, and the brand reviews the week on Friday against the five results above.

Any assistant can price a brief like that. It also tells them what a finished week looks like, which an hours-based arrangement doesn’t. The structure is the one in how to write a brief a freelancer in China can bid on: one outcome per line, and a result you can check.

Before the first batch starts, agree the channel, the reply window and where the summaries live; the Work together chapter has a six-line card for it, in English and Chinese. Before you settle on the channel, check the work tools a freelancer in China can reach.

Money, data and accounts

Three practical matters, all small and all easy to get wrong in the first week.

Money

Pay per batch, after you have reviewed it, and ask the assistant before the first batch how they want to be paid. The limits that matter sit on their side, not yours.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange gives each person in China a yearly quota of USD 50,000 for converting foreign currency, and above it the bank asks for documents. If you pay a person’s Alipay account through Wise, Wise’s own rules allow business senders only the “Salary” or “Services” purpose, up to 50,000 CNY a transfer, and a recipient can receive at most 300,000 CNY a year for services from all providers combined.

Wise also states that a business paying an individual in China can use UnionPay or Alipay, not a plain local bank transfer. For an assistant on a modest weekly fee these caps are far away, but they count every payment the person receives, from every client. The Pay chapter goes through each route, including paying through a party in China in RMB.

Data

• Share only what each task needs: the supplier’s name and the order number, not your whole customer file.
• If the assistant handles personal information of people in China and sends it to you abroad, China’s Personal Information Protection Law requires those people to be told and to give separate consent (article 39).
• Keep supplier chats in a channel you can keep records of, and ask for screenshots in each summary.

Accounts

Sharing a password is quicker, right up to the day the work ends and you need it back.

What it costs

Short answer first: the bid on your brief sets the price, and there is no official rate for this work. The closest official reference is what clerical staff earn as employees:

Read a bid against it with one thing in mind: a freelancer pays for their own insurance and for the quiet weeks between clients, so a bid that works out above the salary figure is normal. What freelancers in China charge has the reference figures for other kinds of work.

When you need an employee instead

If the work is daily, managed by your staff and part of your core operation, it is a job, not a task list. The honest answer then is an employee, hired through your own entity in China or through an employer of record, with a labor contract and the obligations that come with it. The employee-or-freelancer check asks the questions that decide it, and contractor or employee has the legal texts.

For everything else about hiring in China from abroad, from contracts to tax, the handbook overview has the five steps, and contracting without an entity covers the agreement itself.

Post your first week’s task list as the brief. Start a brief.