Dressing up in new and stylish clothes for online shops can earn a cybermodel at least 10,000 yuan (S$1,970) a month, much higher than most other careers in China and making this emerging occupation more attractive amid a boom in online shopping.

Li Qiqi, 25, is one of the top Internet models and has been working in Shanghai since 2010.

She can try on up to 80 sets of clothes in eight hours, taking dozens of pictures in each of them.

"This is to make sure the sellers can pick up satisfied ones," Li said.

"Though it's exhausting, I enjoy my current job, for girls always have a dream of wearing many beautiful clothes," she said. "More important, it brings me at least 60,000 yuan a month, much higher than my former job at a foreign company in Shanghai."

Most models posing for online shops get at least 10,000 yuan per month, according to a report released by Taobao, a major online shopping service provider. The average annual income of a city resident in China in 2011 was about 24,000 yuan, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The burgeoning business has even attracted foreigners.

Maryna Nosenko, 24, from Ukraine, came to China and began work as a cybermodel in May. Her agent, Song Yan, refused to reveal her income but said it's a little higher than many Chinese models.

"Many of her friends envy her very much, and ask me to find similar jobs for them in China as well," Song said.

More than 34,600 models have been registered on Taobao, said Song Zhizhi, who is in charge of daily management of the website's model channel.

It has become the largest of its kind in China since it was set up in March 2010.

"About 1,000 women still want to join this attractive career every day," she added.

One of the attractions is the low threshold for models, since various styles of clothes are sold online and they want to promote their clothes with different kinds of models: young and old, slim and plump.

"Women with perfect features, such as legs or eyes, can also attract sellers to get deals online," she said.

In addition, the boom in online shopping is an important reason for the increasing group of models. About 10,000 online shops opened on Taobao.com every day in 2011, many of which sell clothes. The market can reach tens of billions of yuan a year.

A survey conducted by Taobao found that 70 per cent of sellers found their sales increased a lot after hiring such models to demonstrate their clothes. And buyers are often more willing to buy items that have been shown by models.

"Sometimes, I get feedback from clients saying that the products sold well and they appreciated my efforts, which makes me proud," said Lu Yao, 22, who also gave up her job as a stewardess in February.

Though more and more women are joining this career, she still considered it promising.

"In this market, demand is huge," she said. "I sometimes have to work around the clock."

Jin Jin was chosen Internet model champion in 2011 by buyers on Taobao.com.

"More and more shops have noticed the positive influence after hiring models, so they come to the platform to find models," she said, adding that many of her clients are small or new shops. "They can afford the prices, and they know it's worth hiring models."

The report by Taobao also found that about half of all models work in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen because of the high concentration of online shops in these cities.