I had grown timid. After living in Beijing for a while and getting comfortable, I didn't like to change where I was living - to just stay alone at home - or try other new things. Then I became fearful that I'd miss all the interesting things going on out there. So to take the journey, to walk to Urumqi, was to change myself. My original plan had been to walk from Beijing to my hometown in Germany. But China is too big: it took me a year to travel across almost 5,000km, after stopping off on the way at interesting places and making new friends. So I finished at Urumqi, with a huge beard that I barely trimmed during my journey. Then I got cleaned up and took a flight home.

I started to feel so free and so young. I tried to write as truthfully as possible about my thoughts, even the times when I lost my temper and cursed when someone tried to cheat me during my journey. I think it's the authenticity that has drawn so many readers. I've seen things many people have never seen. When entering Inner Mongolia I had to pass through an unpopulated area. I eventually got myself a little cart to carry food and water so I could survive there. I attracted about 200,000 weibo followers after the first part of my video and book came out. I published the second part of the video last year and my new video series, which started to drive a lot more followers.

I'm a liberalist and observed some extreme opinions of rightists criticising controversial social issues in China. There's so much irony in rightist views, which are quite funny, too. I wanted to imitate the rightist's tone and let internet users see the irony themselves and think about the issues. The term "Fifty Cents Party" describes patriotic internet commentators who are allegedly paid by the state to promote patriotic values and rightist views in China. or the "self-paid Fifty Cents Party,"is a new term to describe those self-paid internet commentators endorsing similar views to the Fifty Cents Party. They choose to write similar comments simply out of patriotism. So in my short video series, I play the role of a . I produced the first one after watching a video of a Guangdong father who was kissing and hugging his teenage daughter in public, which attracted many shallow and twisted comments, which would upset the girl if she reads them after she grows up. So I decided to imitate the tone of the rightist to defend the girl. To my surprise, the video drew about 20,000 followers per day. So I decided to continue.

The biggest mistake often make is that they have mixed the concepts of the Chinese Communist Party, the government and the people together. They started to attack internet users who criticise the party or the government and conclude that this is criticising the people. But they are separate ideas … In my videos I spoke as a z and they are not critical about the government. So I don't think my weibo will be blocked.

I work in China from time to time besides living in Germany. I did Chinese studies at Munich University, but I think the best way to learn the Chinese language is to talk to the ordinary people. When I first studied in Beijing I spent a lot time talking to hairdressers and waitresses at restaurants. They taught me really authentic Chinese, including the slang words. I use this language in my videos. I also try to stay active in Chinese social media and keep learning new terms. I practise my comments in Chinese over and over before I produce a video and make sure the words flow for one to two minutes without breaking down.

It will keep my book publishers happy if my weibo is popular and can help sell more of my books. And the weibo followers inspire me to discover interesting topics and keep adding new posts. I've learned from some of them who said they didn't find my videos funny. I'll review the punchline and think about how to make the irony work. I think the time for foreigners who speak fluent Chinese to act cute or crack jokes in stand-up comedy is over. As someone who studies about China and has a strong interest in its people and culture, I want to get involved in meaningful topics and get in-depth. I'm not just a foreign comedian. I'm a writer, photographer and more. I am Lei Ke.