IShowSpeed, a popular streamer with 38 million followers, visited China and shared his overwhelmingly positive experiences on social media. This had a far greater effect on China's global image than traditional propaganda efforts.
His content showcased various aspects of China, including:
His enthusiastic reactions and frequent exclamations of "China's different, bro" resonated strongly with his audience.
The visit demonstrated that unexpected channels, like a popular social media influencer, can significantly affect a country's image more effectively than government-sponsored campaigns.
The leaders of the Communist Party might be surprised to find they are indebted to a bouncy 20-year-old livestreamer from Ohio called Darren Watkins junior. He goes by the screen name “IShowSpeed” and has in one visit done more for China’s image abroad than any amount of turgid party propaganda. On a two-week trip in March and April he showed his 38m followers the country’s rich history (with a backflip on the Great Wall), friendly people (he joked with China’s finest Donald Trump impersonator) and advanced technology (he danced with a humanoid robot, had a kfc meal delivered by drone, and tried a flying taxi). As he drove into a lake in Shenzhen, safe within an amphibious James-Bond-style electric SUV, Mr Watkins was agog. “Oh my God, this car is not sinking…China got it, these Chinese cars got it!” Or, as he says frequently throughout his visit, “China’s different, bro.”
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