3 min read

Study? No. Make Douyin Videos? Yes!

Study? No. Make Douyin Videos? Yes!

Too busy to get your daily dose of RADII? We got you every Tuesday with a summary of all the freshest takes on China’s youth culture in the last week.

  • Stranded and ready to mingle? Chinese audiences have found ways to enjoy the hottest TV show - Single’s Inferno.
  • Do you want to build a snowman with KAWS? US artist KAWS took his “KAWS:HOLIDAY” tour to Changbai Mountain this time.
  • China-based fans of Amazon Kindle e-reader will be happy to know that rumors of an exit from the Chinese mainland are unfounded.
  • Griffin Gu’s success on TikTok offers hope that despite not seeing each other due to Covid19, and despite how polarized the world can be, we can still find common ground and be united by laughter.
  • Jealous of how Neo mastered Kung fu in mere seconds with just a computer jacked into his brain? This new video game on Steam can teach you Kung fu.

Intrigued? Keep scrolling, my friend.

Meet the influencer making Chinese and American netizens laugh

Given the cultural differences between East and West and the existence of the Great Firewall, you might think Chinese netizens and internet users in Western countries would rarely laugh at the same joke, but 25-year-old influencer Griffin Gu is proving otherwise.

Better known as GG and @GGnoHadid on social media, Gu is famous on both TikTok and its Chinese counterpart, Douyin, with more than 1.4 million followers on Douyin and over 82,000 followers on TikTok.

His online popularity certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed. Incredibly, last year, the Fast & Furious team invited him to interview Vin Diesel in an effort to promote the ninth addition to the franchise.

A recurring theme in his videos is comparing life in China and the United States. A prominent example: In one of the videos that launched his career as an influencer, he contrasted flight attendants in China with those in the United States.

We spoke to Gu about how he transitioned his content from Douyin to TikTok and build cultural understanding on both platforms.

Now that we are into the new year, where can we expect Chinese consumption trends to head over the next 12 months?

We shared our predictions for what young people in China will be eating and drinking in 2022, from plant-based products and various dietary trends to non-alcoholic drinks.

  • For its 8th iteration, KAWS:HOLIDAY landed at Changbai Mountain, Jilin province in China. The monumental art piece features two of KAWS’s “Companion” characters as giant statues constructed of snow.
  • Move over Squid Game, another Korean series airing on Netflix is captivating the world — and without a single death or drop of blood. Although Single's Inferno is streaming on Netflix, a platform blocked in China. Chinese audiences have found ways to enjoy the dating reality TV show.

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