LettersChina floods: TikTok stars can be a force for good in battling deadly disaster

Name: As rains ease in central China, 3 million people still struggling with effects of deadly flooding
Uploaded: 2021-07-28T23:10:13.000Z
Duration: 3 min 56 s
Description: As rains ease in central China, 3 million people still struggling with effects of deadly flooding

While supporting a good cause helps “wang hong” or red-hot internet celebrities burnish their own image, it must be acknowledged that their support has also given much-needed comfort and aid to flood victims

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People bow to pay their respects outside the entrance to a subway station in Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan province on July 27. At least 14 people at the station died after record-breaking rainfall flooded underground railway tunnels, leaving passengers trapped in rising waters. Photo: AP

Letters

Published: 7:10am, 29 Jul 2021Updated: 10:10am, 29 Jul 2021

The heavy rainfall in central China’s Henan province has inflicted huge loss of life and property. Fortunately, the government and other members of society mobilised to provide disaster relief on a war footing.

China’s online influencers also jumped in to help. As the disaster unfolded, a number of these internet short-video celebrities, or wang hong (red-hot on the web) in Chinese, who can leverage their popularity to get their fans to purchase goods or services that they endorse, wielded that power to help flood-affected people and raise funds for relief aid. I’d call it wang hong social mobilisation.

China’s short-video stars are able to monetise their popularity, from product sales, advertising, and virtual gifts from followers.

In response to the disaster, some declared during their live-streaming sessions that all the revenue for the day, rewards or proceeds from products sold, would be donated to the disaster-stricken areas. They then performed a kind of a rap – known in China as han mai, or shouting into the microphone – that contained lyrics aimed both at selling goods and rallying support for the flood victims.

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As rains ease in central China, 3 million people still struggling with effects of deadly flooding

While it’s true internet celebrities would also enhance their own image and boost their own popularity in such high-Traffic live-streaming events, no doubt their support also gave some comfort to the flood-affected people in Henan (“‘Leave to professionals’: Celebrities accused of using China floods in PR stunt”, July 27).