World-famous in China: Foreign internet celebrities in the nation

Many foreign bloggers have developed a keen interest in creating short videos that offer glimpses into their lives in China. Capturing the diverse and dynamic aspects of their experiences, these content creators share cultural insights, daily routines, and unique encounters, providing viewers with a firsthand perspective on life in this vibrant and diverse country. We have chosen 10 short video producers who have over 1 million fans on TikTok.

Let’s take a few minutes to step into their fascinating vlogs to see their lives in China.

Daily life

With the popularity of “The Bite of China,” a documentary filmed by CCTV, China has become widely regarded as a country of delicious food. Many foreigners are coming to China especially for those unique flavors. Thus, exploring delicious food has become one of the most common topics for foreigners who have settled in China to share their daily lives.

Lao Wang in China (4.6 million fans, Iranian) is one of the most popular accounts for sharing Chinese food on BiliBili and Chinese TikTok, and is run by an Iranian named Wang. Exploring old alleys to find traditional Chinese food is his daily life. In 2023, he started his journey of food in China. He has visiyted many places including Chongqing, Henan, and Hainan, and gained nearly 5 million fans on his TikTok account. His chill style and characteristic evaluation of the food makes stand out on the sites. Some people are also attracted by his funny way of communicating with the local people. If you are seeking recommendations for local specialties, his videos will be helpful.

Unlike Lao Wang in China’s style, which visits restaurants to appreciate their delicious food, Chi Huo Lao Wai Tie Dan (12.1 million fans, American) provides another way of sharing food. In his video, he uses close-u ps to show his food in hand at a fixed field and the scenes of biting and dipping morsels in sauce provide a feast for the eyes and ears. Few can resist the feeling of hunger after watching his videos and every type of food in his hand looks delicious, especially at midnight. His more than 10 million fans are proof of his success in this area. Check his videos to see what kind of food you are missing.

Sharing makeup, clothing styles, and skincare products is common on all social media platforms, especially in women’s groups. Many foreigners also take the chance to share their views on this topic. Boni Couple (11.9 million fans, Italian), an account with over 10 million fans run by 26-year-old model Boni, is the most successful in this area. However, her success is not just from sharing makeup tips but from sharing daily life with her Chinese mother-in-law. The collision between Chinese culture and Western culture for a newly married woman evoked a lot of funny stories and helped her gain many fans during that period. After that, she had a baby and started to share ways of taking care of her skin. For every recommendation video, she politely introduces the products she used and identifies their pros and cons compared with other brands. Many people take her as a role model for their skincare because Boni is so pretty.

If looking for something other than makeup and skincare advice, Anna (5.5 million fans, Russian) is dedicated to sharing her dressing style on the internet. It seems that there are no two similar garments in her short videos on TikTok. In China, many people are fans of European fashion shows. Anna’s elegant European face and attractive body fits the model image people have. Her video quality is the same as official clothes advertisements, which gives her audience the feeling of watching a fashion show. Her creative dressing styles have brought her more than 5 million fans and nearly 100 million likes on TikTok.

Nikita (4.8 million fans, Russian) is outstanding in the workout field because of his interesting challenges. He will always select a name from the most popular comments under his video to experience those people’s workout plans and eating plans. For example, one day in the life of of Cristiano Ronaldo who consumed over 3 thousand kcal. It is interesting to see how he overcame those challenges and provides a chance for the audience to see whether sports players’ plans are suitable for them or not. At the end of the video, Nikita also provides an evaluation of the challenge and recommendations for a proper workout plan. He also provides training videos for those people who want to have a better body shape but don’t know how to work out properly. Definitely do not miss his funny challenges!

Luca and Ruili (2.5 million fans, Italian) is an account that shares the travel story of a Chinese-Italian couple. In the video, they introduce the culture, food, and service they experience at the places they travel. It is attractive to see how they go around China and other countries and those videos encourage more people to take journeys with friends or family. Ruili also makes a great model for other foreigners who want to know more about Chinese culture because if they want to truly know those traditions, experiences are always more valuable than the words or pictures in books.

In the group of foreigners who have settled in China for a long time, many have gotten married in China. Therefore, family daily life is one topic that they like to share on social media platforms. Lao Wai Kris (20.5 million fans, Norwegian) is one of those who surpassed 20 million fans on TikTok. Like Lao Wang in China and Chi Huo Lao Wai Tie Dan, he first focused on Chinese food. The collision between Chinese food and Western food helped him gain fans. Now, his videos are no longer limited to food sharing but show his daily life in China. For example, he shares his son’s track development, his life with his wife, and how he takes Chinese culture to his home country. Those warm-hearted scenes give an image that foreigners could have a relaxing life in China, just like locals, and positively spread the interesting Chinese culture.

Teaching

Besides sharing personal or family daily lives, foreigners also provide language tuition for Chinese people who want to advance their second or third language skills. Andrew Cap Teacher An (5.8 million fans, American) is trying to help Chinese people learn English in a way which is close to that of native speakers. Andrew Cap has TEFL international certification and is a creative teacher on TikTok.

Unlike teachers who stick to basic grammar and sentence structure, Cap introduces English idioms that many young native speakers use nowadays, Chinglish mistakes in oral speaking, innovative ways of remembering words, and useful sentences for daily life. His audience is not only the students who want to study abroad or prepare for tests but also adults who want to advance their English for work or travel. As well as his 1-minute lessons on TikTok, he provides recommendations on books for people to continue learning in their spare time. His interesting teaching style and detailed recommendations have brought him nearly 6 million fans on the internet.

Talents

Many foreign popular musicians and dancers have opened accounts on Chinese social media platforms. YOASOBI (2 million fans, Japanese), one of the most popular musical groups, created an account in Chinese TikTok in 2022. It is a group that sings many famous songs for popular Japanese animations, such as the opening song of “Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End.” They provide video of their live shows and their wishes for Chinese people and provide a chance for Chinese people to learn more about them and support them even though they do not live in China.

Moreover, some talented singers cover Chinese songs in China. British Xiucai (2.5 million fans, British) is a gifted singer who lives in Shanghai. All his music is played by himself on guitar and he sings in his learner Chinese. It is interesting to hear the songs from a foreigner’s voice. He will sometimes use his creative mind to make songs based on his fans’ names. This innovative action helped him get millions of likes from young Chinese people.