Candise Lin, an influencer on social media in California, woke up in mid-January to find thousands of so-called Tiktok refugees suddenly flocking to Red Note, the Chinese social media app she uses every day. Lin doesn’t want to claim that the whole thing happened because of her, but the trend is a great example of how her videos can be a big link connecting the parallel world of Western and Chinese social media. For many who otherwise don’t know about China, Lin has become the country’s de facto internet culture ambassador.
Starting in December 2023, Lin, who has more than 2.3 million followers on Tiktok and Instagram, uploading a series of viral videos to Western audiences, launching Red Note (called Xiaohongshu) as a destination for people seeking advice on cruel honest and honest makeovers. The videos prompted beauty influencers to start downloading the app, causing the first traffic barrier for non-Chinese speakers. When Tiktok was almost banned in the United States in January, it was the beauty creators who suggested people change to red notes.
But before Red Note offered millions of Americans the opportunity to experience the Chinese internet directly, Lin has provided them with a rare glimpse. “The content of Dr. Lin is like a magical portal on the other side of the world, everyone is like you, but a little different.
In return, Lin has become a minor celebrity and has earned a steady income from Tiktok, thus complementing her daily work as Cantonese. But her online image has also gained controversy and hatred, and has posted anti-China voices online. Lin told Wired: “If I say something good to China, I call it CCP robot, but if I say something bad to China, I call it CIA spy.” As a result, she tried to avoid politics and focused on more harmless and interesting trends.
Every day, Lin searches for the Chinese internet, looking for new celebrity hatreds, the hottest memes, or perhaps a viral college dorm challenge, which she translates into English and explains in a minute-long video. Each clip has the same signature Deadpan look she gave the camera. Lin is often asked why she doesn’t laugh in the video, and she explains that it’s because she needs to shoot four to five times to get the best shot. No matter how funny the jokes are, they are getting older at the end. “That’s why I’m like a robot,” she said. Still, sometimes Lin can’t help but fall into a smile, which makes her fans happy.
Lin’s audience likes to learn about the lively things of recent Chinese “netizens”. 39-year-old writer and former U.S. diplomat Josef Burton said Chinese social media is a world that Westerners cannot access because they do not speak the same language or use the same platform as the Chinese. “I can’t interact with it or reach it, but there is a ‘everyone is a brother’ [in knowing] This ridiculous thing is going on online. “He said. “In this place where no one is kidding, China is proposed, and this censored, barren hell space is super propaganda…but no one is kidding.” Daily life exists. Memes exist. ”
Interesting facts about Cantonese
Candise Lin was born in the Chinese city of Guangzhou and immigrated to the United States with his family in middle school. She received her PhD in educational psychology, later served as a graduate lecturer and tried to open an online skin care store.
Then, the pandemic lockdown hit, and Lin decided to start posting on tiktok while she rolled boredly at home. In April 2020, she made a 24-second video listing six English names that sound horrible in Cantonese: For example, the name “Susan” sounds like “God of Doom.” The video exploded unexpectedly, catching 5 million views and over 10,000 comments. “So I kept putting it together into a series and I realized there was an audience,” Lin said.
