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What’s on Weibo Podcast #4: Horse Prince, Ambassador, Money Maker – Ding Zhen is China’s 2020 Viral Hit

The rise of Ding Zhen: it started with one Douyin clip and triggered a social media storm.

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His name is Tenzin, now known as Ding Zhen, and this Khampa Tibetan young man is China’s online sensation of the year. Within a matter of days, the 20-year-old from Litang has taken Chinese social media by storm.

In this latest What’s on Weibo podcast, we explain Ding Zhen’s fame from the very beginning, showing how one video clip snowballed into something much bigger than Ding Zhen alone.

Listen to our latest podcast here

Stories that are authored by the What's on Weibo Team are the stories that multiple authors contributed to. Please check the names at the end of the articles to see who the authors are.

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China AI

AI Actress Ad Pulled, Baihaitun Disrupts Shanghai and Cicada Meme Bugs Huawei

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Welcome to China Trend Watch (Week 32–33 | 2026), where I bring you the latest trends, memes, and debates driving conversation across Chinese social media. I’m Manya Koetse, a sinologist specializing in Chinese digital culture.

 


 

🗞️ QUICK SCROLLS

 

📈 Is China’s AI price war over?After a period of offering as much as possible to users at relatively low prices, Chinese AI (LLM) companies are now raising their prices. Last week,…

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China Celebs

Quiet Nationalism, Loud Statements, and Nanjing Memorial Day

From war memory to viral eggs, salty cakes, an unfortunate dinner party and farewell to an iconic actress.

Manya Koetse

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🔥 China Trend Watch — Week 50 (2025)
Part of Eye on Digital China. This edition was sent to paid subscribers — subscribe to receive the next issue in your inbox.


Welcome to the Eye on Digital China newsletter. This is the China Trend Watch edition — a quick catch-up on real-time conversations.

I’ve rounded up my latest China trip that brought me from Chongqing to Nanjing, Wuhan, Zaozhuang and Beijing, for some…

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Eye on Digital China is a reader-supported publication by
Manya Koetse (@manyapan) and powered by What’s on Weibo.
It offers independent analysis of China’s online culture, media, and social trends.

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