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From the end of 2016, people who pass through Wudaokou – a popular area of Beijing due to its proximity to neighboring universities – may have noticed a young man walking around the area, trying to talk to his family. foreign compatriots … camera. Although the black haired expat is often politely but firmly rejected by those he tries to interview, he adroitly edits the footage that he gets in five-minute video clips that often become Viral on social media applications and streaming platforms, such as Weibo, WeChat and Bilibili
The young man conducting the interviews is Raz Galor – also known by his Chinese name, Gao Yousi. Galor, 23, is a graduate of Peking University. In 2016, Galor founded a start-up with his Chinese classmate Fang Yedun, and today manages one of the most popular social media accounts that portrays the daily lives of foreigners in China and counts 2.28 million followers on Twitter like Weibo. The Chinese name of the startup translates to "The Crooked Nuts Research Institute", and is a pun on the Chinese word for "stranger", which – when said in a foreign accent – may look like "twisted nut." This misbehavior has become popular and amusing – if teasing gently and amicably – the way of relating to foreigners among the Chinese.
Galor and many other so-called crooked nuts that appear in his videos have astonished the Chinese – not just in terms of their diversity, but also how much they seem to be in the local culture. Many of these twisted nuts speak almost native Chinese, some having even mastered one or more dialects of the country. They roam the city on shared bikes, buy things through the Taobao online shopping site, order Chinese dishes, watch Chinese TV shows and follow their favorite Chinese stars.
Together, they reflect the ways in which a new generation of foreign-based people in China are cleverly using new media to showcase their everyday lives. Stereoscopic (stereoscopic) video on China could cover topics such as tourism or food. The presentation of these videos tends towards orientalism, with China and its people treated as the Other so that viewers marvel, mocking others, or both. The strangers appearing in these videos are often a little more than tourists: they fly along the periphery of Chinese life, take quick surface snapshots, and then go away. On the other hand, the Crooked Nuts videos are able to present more interesting aspects of Chinese life – partly because of the integration of its stars in Chinese society
. Since these twisted nuts became obsessed with Chinese TV series. "The segment opens on a re-enactment of a well-known scene of the drama of 2017," In the name of the people. "In the scene, video references, a corrupt official taken to his suburban villa illegally detained The parody of the original clip of the original has proved particularly appealing to the Chinese audience, and the video has since received more than 11,000 comments and been shared more 31,000 times.
The clip also includes a section in which Galor interviews foreigners, the Chinese TV shows they've watched. Few Chinese people would be surprised to hear classic titles such as " Three Kingdoms. "However, interviewees also praised performances such as the fantasy drama" Eternal Love, "plot piece" Empresses in the Palace "The contemporary urban drama" Ode to Joy. "
In addition to their interviews on the street, in 2017, the Crooked Nuts team has launched another series in which foreigners are trying to a number of common Chinese jobs. A well received episode meant that Galor spent a day working as a takeaway delivery driver in Beijing. Last year, in the run-up to November 11 – the Chinese version of Black Friday – the Crooked Nuts team went to the Yiwu e-commerce center to conduct research on the products and even launched its own Taobao shop to participate in what is today's biggest shopping day. Other segments focused on Galor and his team working as subway personnel, conductors and movers.
With their first two series, the Crooked Nuts team also held several round tables on current topics. including the #MeToo movement. One of the most revealing and self-reflexive episodes of the series focuses on so-called foreign garbage, with three foreigners of different backgrounds and different Chinese experiences providing a historical overview of foreign activities in China in recent decades. The consensus they reach – that foreigners can no longer skate only by being foreign – demonstrates the depth of their understanding of the evolution of Chinese attitudes towards foreigners.
The Crooked Nuts Group is by no means the only one to attempt to document the lives of foreigners. foreigners. Many other young foreigners have made similar videos in other major cities of the country. In Shanghai, a German named Thomas – who goes through the Chinese game Ah Fu, meaning good fortune – won millions of fans on Weibo and WeChat by producing videos documenting his daily life and his relationship with his Chinese in-laws. A former student of Fudan University in Shanghai, his funniest and most persuasive segments tend to reflect the linguistic and cultural differences between China and Germany.
Thomas Derksen poses for a photo in Shanghai, June 22, 2017. VCG
A fun and representative example is the moment when, under the impression that the Chinese New Year was the Chinese version of Christmas, he brought a small Christmas tree with him. vacation at his parents-in-law's house when he met them for the first time. After learning later that it would have been more appropriate to give his father-in-law "two packs of Zhonghuas" as gifts – a brand of luxury cigarettes – Ah Fu mistakenly thought that people were talking about the toothpaste of the Zhonghua brand. Episodes like this one, which offer a humorous window on Ah Fu's family life, are popular among his followers.
Taken together, the viral fame of these twisted walnuts shows how a new generation of strangers presents and defines their lives in China
Three decades ago, the young Canadian Mark Henry Rowswell – better known as his Chinese name, Da Shan – became a nocturnal sensation in China when he performed xiangsheng a traditional Chinese comedy for two sketch people, for the New Year Gala of the CCTV network. Fluent in Chinese, Da Shan was for many years one of the most famous foreign personalities in the Chinese media. But thanks to the advent of new media, there are now all kinds of outlets and video sharing platforms available for other strangers seeking to showcase their lives and experiences.
However, their work is not without criticism. Some Internet users have accused the stars of the foreign viral video of bowing to their Chinese audiences. And as an anonymous writer on the online question-and-answer platform, Zhihu noted: "It's not because you can use the Internet slang you've integrated the culture Chinese. "
Ten years ago she published the hit song "Zhongguo hua" – or "Chinese language". The song proudly proclaimed the growing popularity of Chinese language and culture around the world. Last year, a group of twisted nuts released a "Zhongguo hua". Pronounced in the same way as the S.H.E. song, the title literally translates to "Become Chinese", and parodies some of the common tropes associated with living as a foreigner in China.From speaking Chinese in the videos to "become Chinese", a new generation of & # 39; Foreigners Attracting Chinese Fans by Developing
Editors: Zhang Bo and Kilian O Donnell
(Header Image: Raz Galor (in black ) tries chicken legs, a traditional Chinese delicacy, at an event in Beijing, July 13, 2017. Charlie Jones / IC)
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