Many online observers likened the beautiful bride to the famous Chinese actress, Fan Bingbing. - Weibo
BEIJING: A stunningly good looking Chinese bride has gone viral online after internet users refused to believe she was real, thinking she was generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
Videos from an April wedding in Gansu province, northwestern China, went viral after the wedding photographer posted them online.
The bride wore a white headscarf that covers her hair, ears, neck and shoulders, traditional clothing that suggests she is from the Chinese Hui ethnic group, which adheres to Islam.
Some were stunned by her beauty, asking if the videos were AI-generated.
Others likened her to Chinese actress Fan Bingbing and suspected that the bride had undergone plastic surgery.
The groom and his bride, who have not been fully identified, have caused a major stir on social media.- Weibo
However, the wedding photographer confirmed that the 25-year-old bride is real, adding that Hui people traditionally reject artificial cosmetic procedures. She said other women in the bride’s family are also beautiful.
The photographer said the bride did not normally wear make-up because she attached more value to inner beauty.
The bride’s name has not been revealed.
Some online observers, who are not familiar with the lifestyles of China’s ethnic groups, learn about their traditional costumes via viral videos.
The Hui people, who numbered around 11.4 million in China’s 2020 census, comprise the country’s fourth largest ethnic group after the Han Chinese, who number 1.29 billion people and represent 91.11 per cent of the population, the Zhuang ethnic group and the Uygur ethnic group.
The groups are widely distributed across China but mainly in northwestern and central provinces.
The Hui also have their own province-level autonomous region, Ningxia Hui autonomous region in northwestern China.
It is said that the name Hui originated from “Huihui”, a name used to address Uygur people who lived in Western China in the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) period.
By the time of the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), ruled by the Mongols, people from Central Asia and further west who migrated to China, mostly Muslims, were all referred to by the name “Huihui”.
“All brides are beautiful on their wedding day,” said one online observer.
“She reminds me of many of my Hui friends,” another person, from northwestern China’s Shaanxi province, said.
Meanwhile, comparing a person’s appearance with faces generated by AI has become a new way of paying a compliment.
Recently, a 20-year-old deaf-mute girl in southwestern China’s Sichuan province was also likened to AI-generated beauty for her “unnaturally beautiful” face. - South China Morning Post
