China Expat is a cultural and literary forum for expatriates interested in China and has been published by Asia Briefing Ltd since 2001. The sites resident China culture writers have included such expatriate luminaries as 
Five Chinese Internet Sensations
The Kappa Girl
Let’s take a moment during this holiday season to appreciate a blessing we all share: the Internet. Fount of free info, scourge of the post office, and time-sucking distraction par excellence, the Internet brings the world to our monitor screen, our way, unlike TV. For a few courageous souls, the Internet is a two-way medium. Through some unquantifiable formula mixing unequal parts silly, brazen, and cool, some people manage to gain worldwide fame, even fortune, by making spectacles of themselves.
By no means does the Internet launch only English-speaking stars. With 253 million web surfers in a market that’s reached only nineteen percent penetration, China has more potential fans waiting to turn wannabes into household names than any other country on earth.
Furong Jiejie, “Sister Lotus”
Why let lack of looks or talent prevent you from developing a massive ego? Furong Jiejie is one of those characters who’s funny because she doesn’t know she is. Unable to distinguish between a catcall and a curtain call, Sister Lotus devotes her energies to sharing her literary, modeling, and dancing prowess.
In Sister Lotus’ world, any attention is good attention, and her fame springs from being a sex object, not an object of ridicule. In a telling blog post, she claims “My sexy appearance and ice-and-jade pure quality bring me a lot of attention wherever I go. I’m always the center of everything. People never tire of looking at my face, and my physique gives men nose-bleeds.” Here’s Furong Jiejie hitting the runway, showing the other models how it’s done. She was commanding more than 20,000 RMB per appearance at the height of her fame in 2005.
rnrn rnrnrn
Hou She Nan Sheng, “The Backdorm Boys”
Unlike Furong Jiejie, Weiwei (Xiao Long, “little dragon”) and Huang Yixing (Da Long, “Big Dragon”) know they look silly doing their act. However, they’re so unflappably committed to camping it up that they turn lip-synching into theater. Using their cramped little dorm room as a stage, they sit in front of a camcorder and mouth lyrics with hilarious sincerity.
Friends they shared their first ten-second clip with helped turn the Backdorm Boys into Internet memes. They landed spokespeople contracts with Motorola before graduating, and are under management with talent agent powerhouse Taihe Rye. They’ve done ads for Pepsi, and appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Here they are emoting to I Want it that Way.
rnrnrnrnrn
Hu Ge
For those not willing to make asses of themselves, Internet fame involves more than a little hard work. An aspiring director, Hu Ge decided Youtube viewers would be a better gauge of his skills than film school students. His first short,Murder by Mentou(Rice Bun) won him China-wide attention, as well as the wrath of director Chen Kaige, who found the parody of his film The Promise rankling enough to sue over (He later dropped the suit over Internet pressure).
rnrnrnrnrn
Gems of satire targeting society and government, Hu Ge’s work has also attracted unwanted attention from the Communist Party’s Propaganda Department, which judged his films too “intricate” to be called amateur. As of yet, though, there has been no official ban.
Muzi Mei
Frank discussions about one’s sex life are bound to prick a few ears; thanks to the Internet, the whole world can act scandalized over such candor. In 2003 Muzi Mei started a blog that went into minute detail over her sexual encounters with numerous men. Too clinical to count as erotica, the blog nonetheless shocked millions of Chinese clinging to traditional notions of female chastity.
The blog has been published in book form in both France and Germany, and both the New York Times and TIME magazine have featured her as an example of China’s changing identity. Here discusses her notoriety on Danwei TV.
rnrnrnrnrn
The Kappa Girl
Those who would “tsk tsk” Muzi Mei for her shamelessness may well see the Kappa Girl as a harbinger of the Apocalypse. Rather than talk about her sex life in a bid for fame and fortune, the Kappa Girl decided to film hers.
So-named for her job at the Kappa sporting goods boutique in a Shanghai department store, Kappa Girl posted a twelve-minute video of a liaison with her boyfriend. Within days, “Kappa” was one of the top ten Google search terms, and websites hosting her film crashed regularly under the relentless waves of downloaders.
Rather than thank her for the publicity, Kappa soon fired her, since the huge influx of visitors to the store were more interested in snapping her picture than buying sweatshirts. Unfazed, Kappa Girl started a blog in her defense, speculating that she was far prettier than Furong Jiejie and able to learn from Muzi Mei’s example. She was also kind enough to post her new rates: 20,000 RMB for a bar appearance, 50,000 RMB for an underwear modeling shoot, and 30,000 RMB for an interview.
She has since made an unpaid appearance at the Shanghai police station, where personnel still view dissemination of pornographic materials as a crime.
Related posts:
- The Five Kinds of Chinese Girlfriends
- Ancient Chinese Strategy for Modern Chinese Life
- Cui Jian, The Grandfather of Chinese Rock
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
