How China’s top WeChat, Weibo, Taobao and TikTok influencers have been working from home during coronavirus lockdown

May 1 , 2020

Would you buy a rocket launch service over the internet? For US$5.6 million? Photo: Handout

Digital influencers tread in different water during the coronavirus epidemic, balancing the art of entertaining many of their followers while remaining conscious of the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. Some resonate with their homebound followers through stunts like the viral “pillow challenge” – fashioning large pillows into chic at-home ensembles – while others engage with fellow digital influencers in conversations on Instagram Live. Top Chinese digital influencers, however, play things somewhat differently to their international peers, on social media platforms such as WeChat, Weibo, TikTok and more.

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Viya Huang

Viya Huang made her name internationally by collaborating with Kim Kardashian during 2019 Singles’ Day to help sell the reality star’s KKW fragrance. The live-streamer counts almost 19 million followers on her Taobao account. During one of her recent Taobao live streams on April 1, she managed to sell a rocket launch service for 40 million yuan (US$5.6 million).

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Li Ziqi

With her storytelling mostly set in the rural Chinese countryside, the vlogger continues to take her 58 million followers on journeys to explore nature through her lens. One of Li’s latest videos followed her on a spring outing, for which the young female farmer prepared a feast made of fresh and edible spring blossoms. The video garnered more than 6 million views on YouTube.

Mr Bags

Tao Liang, aka Mr Bags, engaged with his followers through user-generated content. Tao asked his fans to submit pictures and the stories behind the luxury bags they’ve bought online during the Covid-19 epidemic. The blogger has been tapped by a variety of luxury brands including Chloe, Dior and Tod’s for collaborative capsule collections.

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Becky Li of Becky’s Fantasy

Becky Li of Becky’s Fantasy is best-known for selling 100 Mini Coopers on her WeChat blog in five minutes. Some of her recent top video posts include a tour of her apartment, her walk-in wardrobe filled with a mixture of luxury classics and vintage accessories she collected during her travels.

Anny F

Globe-trotting digital influencer Anny Fan might have her travelling plans delayed because of the Covid-19 epidemic, but that didn’t stop her from staging her own resort-inspired fashion shoot. The KOL created a beach resort inspired studio shoot featuring Louis Vuitton’s colour-popping LV Escale summer 2020 collection. She documented the behind the scenes of the shoot in the WeChat blog to showcase how to create an “indoor” beach shoot with the help of lighting, props and post-production.

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Chinese influencers

Celebrity KOLs like Li Ziqi, Mr Bags, Becky Li and Kim Kardashian’s friend Viya Huang are used to bringing us their colourful social lives and fashion scoops – but what stories have they been telling over weeks of Covid-19 quarantine?