IShowSpeed, a YouTube sensation from the US, is being hailed by Chinese government officials and state media as evidence of a growing desire for mutual understanding between Americans and Chinese amid escalating trade frictions.
The 20-year-old influencer, with over 37 million YouTube followers, went viral after live-streaming his visits to Beijing and Shanghai non-stop for six hours in the two major cities.
The online star, who hails from the midwestern state of Ohio and whose real name is Darren Watkins Jr, is seen in the lengthy productions praising the people who greeted him enthusiastically, clean streets and Internet connectivity that remains fast and stable on subway rides.
The streams, which initially ran on Monday and Tuesday, featuring the influencer doing a backflip on the Great Wall, visiting the Forbidden City and trying Chinese street food have garnered nearly 10 million views combined. They also showed him playing ping-pong and basketball with locals.
Some Chinese viewers commented that, for many new fans in the country, the streams have helped to reverse decades of anti-Chinese propaganda promulgated in the West.
In an example of the enthusiasm that IShowSpeed’s live-streams have drummed up, Chinese vlogger Li Sanjin, who has more than half a million followers on Weibo, claimed that they “eliminated all Western media propaganda about China” and that the American “is doing God’s work”.
The sudden popularity of the American internet star in China is something of an anomaly as many US policymakers have been warning about Beijing’s efforts to spread propaganda domestically and abroad to undermine Washington’s interests.
These warnings come amid a years-long decline in US-China relations, and exacerbated by additional tariffs that US President Donald Trump has put on imports from China.
Manya Koetse, a Dutch sinologist and founder of What’s On Weibo, which tracks Chinese social media trends, reacted to Li’s comment on X with a degree of scepticism.
“Perhaps not quite true,” she said of Li’s praise, “but either way, American YouTuber IShowSpeed’s China visit is playing perfectly” into Beijing’s official narratives.
During the live broadcasts, hundreds of Chinese fans were seen eagerly rushing to take photos and interact with IShowSpeed, who primarily creates content for Western social media platforms that are banned in China.
On Wednesday, China’s embassy in Washington celebrated the response to IShowSpeed’s visit with the hashtag #240hourvisafree on X.
The post read, “IShowSpeed has kicked off a journey in #China that has already garnered massive global attention, which indicates a broader trend of digital influencers bridging cultural gaps and creating alternative channels for foreign audiences to understand a vibrant China.”
In December, China’s National Immigration Administration made it easier for citizens of over 50 countries, including the US, to visit certain parts of China, and offering visa-free “transit” stays for Americans for up to 10 days.
Just a month before the policy was announced, the US State Department issued a level-2 advisory for Americans travelling to mainland China, urging them to “exercise increased caution” due to the “arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans.”
Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington, also posted on X, saying: “We welcome more American friends to bridge cultural gaps and offer unfiltered glimpses into the country.”
The state-run Global Times published an op-ed on Wednesday, stating, “The desire of the people in China and the US to ‘make more visits and exchanges’ has always provided important momentum for the stable advancement of bilateral relations.”
According to Nicholas Cull of University of Southern California, who wrote the book Public Diplomacy: Global Engagement In The Digital Age, digital media influencers are seen as “credible by their own audiences who tend to be more similar to them than the voices in legacy media”.
“I think the reception given to IShowSpeed shows curiosity about the US among young Chinese netizens, and curiosity about someone famous shared by young people (and most people) the world over,” Cull said, adding that such “mutual interest” was a “hopeful sign”.
“Knowledge of one another’s performers and celebrities may seem trivial but it really helps to break down the stereotypes we hold of each other that so often lack differentiation and a personal dimension”, Cull added. – South China Morning Post
