Confucius-quoting Shanghai tramp becomes online celebrity ... then tells well-wishers to go away and read more books
- Online influencers try to gain an advantage from homeless man’s wisdom and learning, but he says all he cares about is reading
- Shen Wei has been living on the streets for 17 years and says he just wants to be left in peace after his online brush with fame
A homeless man in Shanghai has become an overnight celebrity for his eloquent commentary on classic Chinese texts such as the Analects of Confucius.
Videos of Shen Wei have been gaining momentum on Chinese social media since Wednesday, earning at least 14 million post views on microblogging site Weibo.
But despite the attention he has attracted, Shen said he would rather be left alone and told people that if they really cared about him they should read more books.
In one of these videos, the scavenger was filmed discussing the merits of Liao Fan’s Four Lessons, a Ming dynasty work from the 16th century, and the Analects.
Other videos show dozens of people swarming around him with their phones held out to catch a shot of him near an unfurnished building.
A March 20 video report by Thepaper.cn said they were online influencers hoping an appearance of Shen in their videos would gain them more views.