I went to China and was treated like a celebrity by crowds of people

A young British backpacker found herself in the spotlight and became an unlikely celebrity during a recent trip to China thanks to her striking natural hairstyle. 

Eleanor Hodgson, also known as Elli, posted a video to her TikTok account @ellitravels on August 15 of the moment Chinese crowds flocked to pose and take pictures with her. 

The travel enthusiast and blogger, who boasts almost 5000 followers on the social app, has documented her travels around South East Asia, visiting countries such as China, Thailand and Vietnam. 

In the video, which has since amassed over 24K views and 700 likes, Elli attached a caption, which reads: ‘One of our craziest places to travel was China, we drew a crowd wherever we would go, taking photos all the time and often being filmed.’

Elli’s boyfriend, Nathan, captured the surprising moment during their trip to Tiananmen Square in the city centre of Beijing – home to the world’s largest inner-city square that can hold up to a million people.

While visiting the tourist hotspot, Elli, whose long, golden-blonde curls contrasted against her all-black outfit, quickly garnered attention. 

The content creator can be seen posing and smiling next to dozens of locals who embraced her while grinning excitedly at the camera. 

In one scene, Elli poses in the middle of a group of six, before going on to take photos with two elderly women and two elderly men.

Crowds of locals – mainly of an older age – are seen patiently awaiting their turn for exclusive pictures with the blonde backpacker, as they prepare the cameras on their phones – ready for the perfect snap. 

In a text overlay as the footage played, Elli said: ‘POV: you’re a blonde, curly tourist in China and everyone wants photos with you like you’re a celeb.’

Other curly-haired tourists who had previously visited some South East Asian countries shared their own wholesome experiences of being inundated with photo requests from curious locals. 

One woman asked Elli if China was safe, but she replied: ‘I felt completely safe, everyone is super lovely, you’ll have the best time.’

One person wrote, ‘Experienced the same without blonde hair,’ while another jokingly warned, ‘Go to Indonesia (not Bali) it will be way ‘worse.”

Another tourist, who had been visiting China at the time, wrote: ‘I have black curly hair – today I got an entire group of school children take my picture on the Great Wall. They are all so kind.’

A final spiral-curled individual wrote: ‘All the time in Laos and Vietnam. I have red curly hair.’

Elli’s positive experience as a tourist in Asia could not be said for another British woman who revealed the derogatory comments that she received about her weight while working abroad in Asia ‘as a fat person.’

Twenty-year-old Anna travelled around Asia while picking up work along the way – but the once-in-a-lifetime trip was affected by hurtful comments about her weight.

The young woman, who works in the medical field, refers to herself as a ‘gastric sleeve queen’ because she recently underwent surgery on the NHS. But before the procedure, Anna experienced a stream of ‘humbling’ comments during her travels.

Anna told her followers in a TikTok clip about the comments she received, which included ‘fatty’ and ‘bigger people sweat more,’ and said they ‘altered her ‘brain chemistry.’