IShowChina
I was scrolling my WeChat channels today when I came across a video from Adrien Brody's "official" account who was talking about his plan to visit China starting with a trip to Shanghai. A couple of weeks ago, Imagine Dragons, Coldplay, and Ed Sheeran likewise had their own tours here and it feels like there's been a massive shift in the idea of China in the minds of American celebrities lately. While China has one of the largest markets for cinema around the world, powerful enough to push Disney to modify its products to match this market, it was never been a priority for American celebrities, and whenever one of them even made an effort to make a sort of connection to Chinese culture, got mocked by the public and the industry itself (just look at the number of memes surrounding John Cena's multiple attempts to speak very excellent Chinese), let alone the numerous times that Chinese people were the target for racial jokes. Nonetheless, things got changed. IShowApeed (one of the most well-known streamers) just came to China and gave free PR for a month which correctly reshaped the presumption of China in the minds of not only Americans but other communities around the world. The concept of China being a very poor, underdeveloped, and vulnerable country (aka "the factory of the world") cracked so badly that people began to poke fun at US billions of dollars of propaganda that got wasted by a normal streamer. This is epic. This is an absolute cinema.
Regardless, I believe like any other major event, this shift can have some downsides as well as its respective upsides. First of all, not everywhere in China looks like Shanghai or Chongqing. Many cities in China are not as developed or modern as these megalopolises and even they have their drawbacks too. I used to live in Zhengzhou, Henan province, before coming to Shanghai. It's one of the less progressive cities and the province itself also is weaker in comparison with the the rest of the country. There are many regions where people have little to no access to enough water or suitable electricity. I'm not stretching to portray a negative picture, but I think there is a less optimistic angle about China that people outside of the country or those who lived most of their lives in first-tier cities are easily dismissing; like every other place in the world, China has its own difficulties. Do I prefer to live in China rather than the US? Absolutely yes. Do I think there is no problem and life is flawless in China? Absolutely not.
My second concern is about the way that these celebrities approach the country, culture, and people. In the case of Speed, I witnessed a genuine relationship between him and his audience. Yes, he might come off as corny or annoying for people who are less familiar with his persona or the Streaming as a whole, but his attitude towards even the most racist comments was mostly chill and unserious which made the interactions more appealing for both Chinese and international audiences. Now, do I think others like Adrien Brody or Central Cee are taking notes? Maybe not. Frankly, there is always a gap between celebrities and the fans/public, but whenever they proceed to narrow down this gap, they not only gain more likability but also more impact. The way that the Chinese government treated Speed was one of the many models of this argument. They didn't only put his face on the Ferris wheel and walls, but furthermore, there was tons of content all around the Chinese media affiliated with him. Speed's presence affected the way Chinese people used to approach the black community to a certain degree. I don't accept they are deeply racist, but they aren't used to seeing people with different shades of skin color since there ain't any black people living here in contrast with nearly any other country around the world. Additionally, they have a distinct set of beauty standards that doesn't rank darker shades or facial hair that highly and the outcome is this strange strategy. Regardless, since the whole situation, I see many Chinese content creators doing collaborations with black influencers because nowadays they see them in a much different way and it can be the beginning of a much wider and profound evolution of sentiments.
Overall, I think the parallel between Speed's journey to the East and Trump's efforts to provoke an economic war portrays an extremely intriguing picture of how the two dissimilar parts of the US are responding to the progress of China; while the politicians are trying to downplay decades of advancement and hardwork (remember JD Vance's comments on Chinese labors?), entrepreneurs and even the less conservative (aka republican) communities see the opportunity to establish a relationship based on mutual respect. To be honest, at this very moment, IShowSpeed is a more qualified alternative for the Oval Office.