Not a fake: social media in China delighted to discover world-famous Jiafei meme is real
- Model is woman who took iconic selfie at home three years ago
- Photo stolen by online retail accounts became global TikTok meme
People online in China who assumed the hugely popular 2021 TikTok meme, Jiafei, was an artificial intelligence fake have been astonished to learn the iconic profile belongs to a real person.
On October 16, a model from Beijing, surnamed Dai, said the meme was one of three selfies she took three years ago on the balcony of her home in Sanya in southern China’s island province of Hainan.
She said a large number of TikTok accounts stole the photo after she posted the selfie, fuelling its popularity on the short video app.
Dai said she did not know her photo had gone viral until June when a friend told her the meme looked like her.
Dai posted a video on Douyin, the mainland version of TikTok, under the account name @Daidairebuqi, saying she was shocked to discover her photo had become a global phenomenon.
The hashtag #jiafei has attracted 610 million views on TikTok, and her image has been used on posters and flags to decorate walls and windows.
Her face was also superimposed on a remixed version of the Ariana Grande song, Focus, which received 44,000 views on YouTube.
The Jiafei photo was widely believed to be a digitally remastered combination of Meng Jia and Wang Feifei, the two Chinese members of the K-pop girl group Miss A.