China Digital

‘Diaper Proposal’ Goes Viral on Weibo

It is a romantic dream for most women to see their lover kneeling down with a diamond ring and a bunch of beautiful roses. For one Guangzhou woman, however, this dream turned out somewhat different.

Published

4 years ago

November 5, 2015

Jennifer Tang

It is a romantic dream for most women to see their lover kneeling down with a diamond ring and a bunch of beautiful roses. For one Guangzhou woman, however, this dream turned out somewhat different.

A young man named Feng proposed to his pregnant girlfriend with over 50 packs of diapers on Tuesday in Guangzhou, China. With the help of his friends, Feng arranged the diapers in the shape of a giant heart alongside the Pearl River, joined by a big banner saying: “Will You Marry Me?”

He then gave his girlfriend another bag of diapers, carried by a drone, with a diamond ring inside. His girlfriend, who seemed surprised and touched by the gesture, said yes.

The spectacular scene attracted the attention of many bypassers and was photographed and uploaded to Weibo, leading the topic to become trending under the hashtag of “Diaper Proposal” (#纸尿裤求婚#).

The proposal was inspired by Taiwanese celebrity couple Alyssa Chia and Xiu Jie Kai, who announced the birth of their baby daughter through social media this summer. They later shared a video titled “Mothers who lack sleep” (缺睡妈妈), illustrating the exhaustion of working and stay-at-home mums who have to wake up at all hours of the night to take care of their crying baby and change their diapers. The video was sponsored by ‘Libero’ diapers.

Taiwanese actors Xiu Jie Kai previously said he would take up daddy duties such as changing diapers and bottle-feeding to reduce the burden on his wife.

The video ‘Mothers who lack sleep’.

Unsurprisingly, the same brand of diapers used in the video shared by Alyssa Chia and Xiu Jie Kai, were also used for the proposal in Guangzhou. “From now on, your happiness and the baby’s happiness are my responsibility. I will take care of our baby at night time and make sure you have sufficient sleeping time every day,” Feng said during his proposal. The intention behind his creative proposal was the promise to his girlfriend that he would be a good father, and that he would make sure that his girlfriend would not turn into a ‘tired mummy’.

Many of the Weibo comments for Feng’s creative proposal are positive. Many netizens give their thumbs up. Weibo netizen @Mr___Saturday commented that the way one proposes is actually not important; what counts is the sincere love of Feng for his girlfriend.

Some users see the commercial value of the hyped proposal: “This is just excellent marketing for Libero Diapers,” Tony says.

– by Jennifer Tang
Follow @WhatsOnWeibo

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Jennifer Tang

About the author: Jennifer is a freelance writer, translator and teacher from Hong Kong.

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China Digital

TikTok’s In-Video Search Function (And How to Activate It)

TikTok shows a glimpse of what in-video search is going to look like in the future.

Published

4 weeks ago

September 24, 2019

Manya Koetse

What is TikTok’s new in-video search function and how to activate it?

Twitter’s most awesome WeChat guru Matthew Brennan recently posted about an “in-video search function” launched in the Chinese social video app TikTok (抖音). (Click here to read about the difference between the Chinese and overseas version of TikTok).

As shown in a video posted by Brennan, the function allows TikTok users to select the face or clothes of a person appearing in a short video to search for other videos or images containing the same person or clothes.

Chinese TikTok now has in-video search. Search someone's face to find more videos of them. Search in-video products or clothes and buy directly #抖音 pic.twitter.com/RBcIqnOBgN
— Matthew Brennan (@mbrennanchina) September 23, 2019

The ‘vision search’ is a powerful new function within the super popular app.

The idea is that it becomes easier than ever for Tiktok users to find (and buy!) a piece of clothing, that perfect handbag, or even a snack featured in a video.

It also helps users to quickly find other videos in which an online celebrity appears. The function ultimately is an additional feature that keeps users scrolling and shopping within the app – increasing app traffic – as long as possible.

On September 16, Chinese media reported about the function as a “powerful” new tool that greatly strengthens the functionality of the popular short video app.

The function might not immediately seem completely new to Chinese app users; like Google Image Search, Baidu and Taobao also have similar functions (百度识图, 淘宝识图).

On e-commerce platform Taobao, for example, you can take a photo of an item you want (e.g. a certain snack as in example below) and Taobao will try to find the exact same product and list the online stores where you can buy it.

But TikTok’s in-video search function is on a whole new level; it does not require users to scan or upload a photo at all. It gives an indication of what visual search will be like in the future.

Whatever video comes by in your TikTok stream, you only need to click the “search” function (识图), select the part of the video you want to search for (you can drag the square from area to area), and TikTok will find the product or face you’re looking for – as long as there are comparable products/faces (it does so very fast).

Very much like Taobao, TikTok will recommend various (in-app) online stores where the product can be purchased.

Want to try out the function? For now, it only works in the Chinese version of the app and is still in the ‘testing phase’ and does not work with all videos.

Make sure you have an updated version of TikTok.

1. Go to “me” (我) page within TikTok
2. Tick the three lines in the top right corner
3. Go to the last option in the sidebar menu titled “lab” (实验室)
4. Activate the function (image below).

So now if you spot a dress you like and would like to buy, press the ‘search’ button on the right of a video, select the dress, and TikTok becomes like your personal shopping assistant looking for similar dresses for you.

Tiktok makes shopping supereasy.

This really makes online shopping more addictive than ever, and also makes it more difficult for people in online videos to hide where they bought their clothing, or what other videos they are in.

Read more about Tiktok here.
Read more about Chinese apps here.

By Manya Koetse

Follow @whatsonweibo

Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us.

China Digital

Didi Riders Can Now Have “Verified Party Members” Drive Them Around

Party-building 3.0? Didi has got it covered.

Published

4 weeks ago

September 20, 2019

Manya Koetse

First published September 20, 2019

This is Party-building in the new era: Didi now allows users of its Premier Car Service to let a verified Party member drive them to their destination.

On September 20, as the People’s Republic of China is nearing its 70th-anniversary celebrations, the country’s most popular taxi-hailing app Didi published an article on Weibo and WeChat explaining its verified Party Member Driver Program.

Recently, riders in Beijing may have noticed something different at Didi’s Premier Car service, which is called “Licheng” 礼橙专车 since June of last year.

Thanks to Didi’s “Red Flag Steering Wheel” program, spotting a ride hailing CCP member has never been this easy. pic.twitter.com/DuHghtE8xu
— 王博源 Wang Boyuan (@thisboyuan) September 20, 2019

Some of Licheng’s drivers now have a red background to their profile photos accompanied by a Communist Party emblem. Upon clicking the profile of these drivers, customers will see that this driver is a Party Member Driver (“党员司机”) – meaning that the Didi driver’s status as a Party member has been verified through Didi’s “Red Flag Steering Wheel” program (红旗方向盘项目) that was set up in November 2018.

Didi’s “Red Flag Steering Wheel” program (红旗方向盘项目) that was set up in November 2018. Image via Guancha.

Didi writes that these drivers can also be identified as Party members through the red sticker on the dashboard at the passenger side, which literally says “Party member driver.”

The article explains that the recent project is an effort to contribute to China’s Party-building in the digital era, and that Didi aims to establish a Party member community within its company.

This car is driven by a Party member (image via Didi/Weibo).

The company is apparently planning to make this community a lively one, as it promises to provide online and offline activities that will help these drivers stay up to date with the latest developments within the Party, and that will increase their “Party awareness.”

Starting this month, Didi will reportedly also offer “patriotic classes” to all of its drivers via its online classroom program.

China has more than 88 million Party members. Party membership does not come overnight; those who want to become a Communist Party member need to attend Party courses, pass written tests, be recommended by other members, and pass a screening (read more here).

As for now, riders cannot manually pick to have a Party member as their driver; a nearby driver will be automatically selected when they order a car – if it is a Party member, they will know straight away from the driver’s profile.

For now, Didi has set up “mobile Party branches” in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and a number of other cities.

On Weibo, some see the initiative as a marketing move from Didi’s side. “If you hear the driver is a Party member, you know it’s reliable. It’s a good thing.”

The past year was a tough year for Didi, after the murders of two young women by their Didi driver made national headlines, causing outrage and concerns about customer’s safety when hailing a car through the Didi company.

By Manya Koetse

Follow @whatsonweibo

Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us.