Mistake or marketing mastery? Book choice gains instant internet celebrity for young woman

A young Chinese woman has achieved a goal many seek these days, becoming a wang hong, or internet celebrity, with a series of online portraits.

At first glance, the photos seem simple enough, just shots of the woman holding a book with a title written in Russian text, in some appearing to read, in others musing or peeking wide-eyed from behind the book cover, in one curled on her bed gazing into space with the book on her bedside table.

Yet the photos made headlines on almost every internet portal on the mainland after first being spotted by internet users in Russia and quickly spreading on Russian online forums.

Their interest was piqued because the book featured is not a novel, as might be expected, but a repair manual for the E– 505 heavy-duty excavator, made by the former Soviet Union in the 1950s.

“She must be deeply attracted by the content, over 40 pages into it already,” reported Shanghai-based news website Guancha.cn, quoting a comment from an internet user from Russia. Other Russian users suggested young Chinese check a translation before posing with a book in a foreign language.