In 2008, the murder of young Canadian model Diana O’Brien shocked Shanghai. In a new book, And the City Swallowed Them, journalist Mara Hvistendahl tells the story of Diana O’Brien’s life and of the murder case.

O’Brien had come to Shanghai to work in a deal arranged between her Canadian modeling agency, Coultish Management in Victoria, BC and a local agency named JH. The following excerpt, from Chapter 6 of Hvistendahl’s book, is about the state of the international modeling industry.