BuzzFeed editor and Brother Orange wrap up chapter one of fairy-tale bromance
It’s a long way from Manhattan to Meizhou in northern Guangdong, but American web editor Matt Stopera and the restaurant owner dubbed “Brother Orange” he got to know through a lost iPhone have wrapped up a two-week visit of a lifetime.
Recapping the story that was well covered in the mainland and the US, Stopera lost his iPhone in a bar in New York a year ago and became intrigued when photos of a Chinese man later began appearing in his photo stream.
Stopera, a web editor at the website BuzzFeed, posted photos and an article online entitled “Who is this man and why are his photos showing up on my phone?” It caused a clamour online and eventually he was connected to the man through the help of internet users.
At the invitation of Brother Orange, Stopera arrived in Meizhou to be met by a man whose real name is Li Hongjun, on March 17, and for the following fortnight reported on his special holiday in China.
Li, who earned the moniker “Brother Orange” after a photo showed him standing in front of his orange tree, said the handset was a gift from a relative but was unusable now.
Stopera said he never imagined the lost phone would start an “insane” experience in which he not only became a celebrity in China, but also found a “friend for life”.
Their relationship, nicknamed online as “the most romantic story of the Lunar New Year”, continued when Stopera visited Brother Orange in his hometown in Wuhua county, outside Meizhou city, with both men describing the past two weeks as the happiest time they’d had in the past two decades, according to their Weibo posts.
When Stopera arrived at Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport, about two hour’s drive from Meizhou, he didn’t expect Li would be waiting for him under a specially made banner proclaiming “Welcome Matt” in Chinese and English. The pair was surrounded by local media and Stopera said they were “bombarded by cameras”, according to his article posted on BuzzFeed.
Li gave the now defunct iPhone to Stopera, who said he noticed a small dent he made when he once dropped it in the US. The two communicated through translators.
In Meizhou, Stopera visited Li’s large, extended family. The two planted trees together, shared typical Hakka cuisine, partied in Karaoke bars and were interviewed by dozens of journalists.
They also travelled to Beijing, Stopera’s final stop, where they visited the Palace Museum.
Stopera hopes to reciprocate the hospitality of Brother Orange in the Big Apple. Li said he is applying for a tourist visa to the US.
Li saw off his American guest at Beijing Capital International Airport, an event Stopera described online as “one of those storybook good-byes”.
“He waited at the gate and waved until I could see him anymore. Bye Bro!” Stopera wrote, adding that he’s sure to see Brother Orange again.
“This isn’t it. It’s destiny. I now believe in fate.”
