How Candise Lin Became the Unofficial Ambassador of Chinese Internet Culture

One time successful mid-January, California-based societal media influencer Candise Lin woke up and recovered that hundreds of thousands of alleged TikTok refugees were abruptly flocking to Red Note, a Chinese social media app she uses each day. Lin doesn’t privation to assertion the full happening happened due to the fact that of her, but the inclination is simply a bully illustration of however her videos person go an indispensable nexus connecting the parallel worlds of Western and Chinese societal media. For galore radical who don’t different cognize overmuch astir China, Lin has go the country’s de facto ambassador of net culture.

Starting successful December 2023, Lin, who has much than 2.3 cardinal combined followers connected TikTok and Instagram, uploaded a bid of viral videos introducing Red Note (known arsenic Xiaohongshu successful Chinese) to Western audiences arsenic a destination for radical searching for brutally honorable makeover suggestions. The videos prompted quality influencers to statesman downloading the app, resulting successful its archetypal traffic bump from non-Chinese speakers. When TikTok was adjacent to being banned successful the US successful January, it was quality creators who suggested radical should determination to Red Note instead.

But agelong earlier Red Note offered millions of Americans an accidental to straight acquisition the Chinese internet, Lin had been providing them a uncommon glimpse into it. “Dr. Lin’s contented is similar a magical portal to the different broadside of the world, wherever everyone is conscionable similar you but a small different,” says Lucy White, a 22-year-old Scottish bartender who follows Lin connected Instagram.

In return, Lin has go a insignificant personage and earns a unchangeable income from TikTok that subsidizes her time occupation arsenic a Cantonese tutor. But her online beingness besides opens her up to controversies and hatred from some pro- and anti-China voices online. “If I accidental thing bully astir China, I’m called a CCP bot, but if I accidental thing atrocious astir China, I’m called a CIA spy,” Lin tells WIRED. As a result, she tries to enactment wide of authorities and absorption connected much innocuous and comic trends.

Every day, Lin scours the Chinese net looking for a caller personage feud, the hottest meme, oregon possibly a viral assemblage dorm challenge, which she past translates into English and explains successful a minute-long video. Each clip features her giving the camera the aforesaid signature deadpan look. Lin is often asked wherefore she doesn’t laughter successful her videos, and she explains it’s due to the fact that she needs to movie 4 oregon 5 times to get the champion take. No substance however comic the jokes are, they are getting aged by the extremity of that. “That’s wherefore I’m similar a robot,” she says. Still, sometimes Lin can’t assistance but interruption into a smile, which delights her fans.

Lin’s assemblage loves learning astir what hilarious things alleged Chinese “netizens” person been up to lately. Chinese societal media is simply a satellite that Westerners don’t person entree to due to the fact that they don’t talk the aforesaid connection oregon usage the aforesaid platforms arsenic radical successful China, says Josef Burton, a 39-year-old writer and erstwhile US diplomat who follows Lin connected Instagram. “I can’t interact with it oregon scope it, but determination is an ‘all men are brothers’ benignant of fondness [in knowing] this ridiculous happening is going connected online,” helium says. “China is presented arsenic this wholly othered spot wherever nary 1 jokes around, this censored, barren hellhole abstraction that’s each hyper propaganda … But no, radical gag around. Daily beingness exists. Memes exist.”

Fun Facts astir Cantonese

Candise Lin was calved successful the Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou and immigrated to the US with her household erstwhile she was successful mediate school. She received a doctorate grade successful acquisition science and aboriginal worked arsenic a postgraduate lecturer, and astatine 1 constituent tried opening an online tegument attraction shop.

Then the pandemic lockdowns hit, and portion bored astatine location scrolling connected her phone, Lin decided to commencement posting connected TikTok. In April 2020, she made a 24-second video listing six English names that dependable horrible successful Cantonese: The sanction “Susan,” for example, sounds similar “god of atrocious luck.” The video unexpectedly blew up, garnering 5 cardinal views and implicit 10,000 comments. “So I kept making it into a series, and I realized there’s an assemblage for this,” Lin says.