Great call of China: how foreign video bloggers are becoming the ones to watch
Mandarin speakers making a name for themselves with light-hearted videos on language, food and travel
They hail from as far afield as Britain, Europe, the United States and Japan, but Fu Lin Fang, Bai Jie, Wang Ba Dan, Gang Dan and Yamashita Tomohiro have one thing in common – for those who watch online videos in China they are all household names.
And with the exception of Tomohiro from Japan, all of these foreign bloggers have taken on Chinese monikers. They speak fluent Mandarin and make videos on topics ranging from foreign-language learning and cross-cultural differences to food, travel and comedy, which they post on social media platforms in China.
Just as tens of thousands of young Chinese have been drawn to the booming video blogging business, a growing number of foreigners living in China – or elsewhere – are now trying their hand at it.
Video blogging is seen by many as a potentially lucrative career path, since those with a large fan base can often use their fame to make money.
According to a report released by Beijing-based consultancy iResearch in June, the number of online celebrities in China with more than 100,000 followers increased this year by 57.3 per cent from 2016. The report did not give the total number of online celebrities on the mainland. Some 470 million internet users were following these online celebrities, up 20.6 per cent from the previous year.
Of those fans, 54.1 per cent lived in third- or fourth-tier cities, and 65.7 per cent sought out videos with humorous and fun content.
British video blogger William August is known as Fu Lin Fang in China, where he has three million followers. His short videos about English study, British and Chinese culture and social trends appear on YouTube as well as eight Chinese video websites.