China Celebs

“Wow I’m So Fast!” – Olympic Swimmer Fu Yuanhui Becomes Chinese Internet Sensation

Fu Yuanhui is China’s sweetheart: “Wow! Am I so fast? I am very pleased!”

Published

10 years ago

August 8, 2016

Chinese Olympic swimmer Fu Yuanhui has become a sensation on Chinese social media after she finished third in the women’s 100m backstroke in Rio de Janeiro on August 7. More than for her swimming skills, the 20-year-old athlete is praised for her funny expressions and down-to-earth attitude.

Click here for more articles on Fu Yuanhui

The Summer Olympics in Rio have been a trending topic on Chinese social media for the past week.…

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Diandian Guo

Diandian Guo is a China-born Master student of transdisciplinary and global society, politics & culture at the University of Groningen with a special interest for new media in China. She has a BA in International Relations from Beijing Foreign Language University, and is specialized in China's cultural memory.

19 Comments

Jesús

August 9, 2016 at 4:45 am

Wow! I didn’t knew that chinese people knew to smile, so now i got hope the Chinese will be a little more humans well, all will must to be more…

Congratulations to Fu! perhaps she isn’t the most beautifull woman in the earth, but she has a brightness that it becomes her in a very very pretty woman ^^

DON’T CHANGE NEVER FU!!!

Hi from Spain! ; ) Bye and kisses

Reply
- Thomas
  
  August 9, 2016 at 7:37 am
  
  visit China sometime, there is a lot of smiling going on, also crying, jumping form joy and basically all emotions that you have is Spain also ;-P
  
  Reply
  - Jesús
    
    August 9, 2016 at 4:45 pm
    
    I know XDD . Everything was an irony : P . But I do not think I ever wander through China, at least in this life because , if it costs me support to my country , I do not think I feel better surrounded by a population with so different from my culture and so hermetic mentality such as Chinese .
    
    Sorry if my commentary is offensive for someone, it isn’t my think.
    
    Reply
    - 你爷爷
      
      August 9, 2016 at 11:05 pm
      
      fuck you, bitch, Spanish white pig. Sorry, if my commentary is offensive for someone, it isn’t my think.
      
      Reply
      - chao
        
        August 9, 2016 at 11:29 pm
        
        you make me feel shamed…. do not be raciest, please. I believe this Mr. Jesus is a friendly guy.
      - Liuxing Shen
        
        August 10, 2016 at 3:06 am
        
        Respect personal choice!
      - Siline
        
        August 10, 2016 at 11:33 am
        
        Your reaction is quite humiliating. Please think before you post. Even if you don’t get his humor and misunderstand, an appropriate reaction will be appreciated. Especially, people might think you represent CHINESE!
      - joshwu
        
        August 10, 2016 at 3:18 pm
        
        You’re such an obscenity of Chinese nation, just go home and die quietly. You make hundreds of millions of overseas Chinese
      - 你爷爷
        
        August 11, 2016 at 12:42 am
        
        I post the previous comment because I don’t take “hermetic mentality” as a compliment, neither does “surrounded by population”, also “a little more human” made me feel offended. If declaring to apologize to whom feel uncomfortable after a long paragraph of ironic saying could be taken as “friendly”, I’m also friendly due to my same sentence posted after my racism curse. And to Joshwu, if you could not express yourself in English, use the dictionary, if you are lazy, just using Chinse.
- Deus Vult
  
  August 9, 2016 at 8:19 am
  
  gas yourself you fucking spic
  
  Reply
  - Jesús
    
    August 9, 2016 at 4:37 pm
    
    No mereces que nadie pierda el tiempo respondiéndote…
    
    Reply
- Robert
  
  August 10, 2016 at 2:13 am
  
  Miss you ass,humiliate our Chinese citizen
  
  Reply
Northest

August 9, 2016 at 7:16 am

She’s such a optimistic girl. Hope Chinese athletes can be more funny like her.

I’m from China and just saw this on Reddit. Thanks for sharing this. Good translation. 🙂

Reply
Cindy

August 9, 2016 at 8:46 am

This is adorable! I hope she does well in the finals. 🙂

Reply
- xingfenzhen
  
  August 9, 2016 at 9:02 pm
  
  she won brozne, and she was jumping and down (and bronze and silver medalist all serious looking), so much you would have though she won gold.
  
  Reply
  - Norha
    
    August 11, 2016 at 4:42 am
    
    haha..she really is cute, isn’t she?
    
    Reply
sreb

August 10, 2016 at 9:03 pm

Congratulations! She’s fantastic– a genuine young athlete who did not allow the publicity and hype to go to her head. Here’s to continued success in the future.

Reply
Leonardo França Ribeiro

August 12, 2016 at 7:29 am

Todos no Brasil a amamos <3 ela é uma pessoa super Gentil, brincalhona e super simpatica, suas reações foram muito engraçadas, com certeza Fu Yuanhui sera a atleta dessas olimpiadas 2016. Esperamos ve-la com muitas medalhas de ouro, você trouxe muitas alegrias pra todos nos. beijos de todo o Brasil FU Yuanhui nós te adoramos ^^

All in Brazil love <3 she's a super person Gentle, playful and super simpatica, their reactions were very funny, certainly Fu Yuanhui will be the athlete of these Olympics 2016. We hope to see it with many gold medals, you brought many joys for all of us. kisses from all over Brazil FU Yuanhui we love you ^^
sorry English terrible but I only speak Portuguese

Reply
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China Brands, Marketing & Consumers

Starbucks Goes Xinjiang & The Kardashians in China

Starbucks rebrands as “Star-Bazaar” in Urumqi—what does it say about shifting perceptions of Western brands in China? Also: a cheating sports influencer and the souvenirs that became most hated.

Published

1 month ago

October 4, 2026

Manya Koetse

Originally published in the Eye on Digital China newsletter on Sunday, October 4, 2026.

Welcome back to China Trend Watch (Week 40 | 2026), my regular tour through the latest trends, memes, and debates driving conversation across Chinese social media. I’m Manya Koetse, a sinologist specializing in Chinese digital culture. Want to receive the next edition in your inbox? Become a paid subscriber here.

In this edition:

Quick scrolls: A Chinese athlete cheated her way to the Berlin Marathon’s finish
Zooming in: When Localization Gets Political: Starbucks Goes Xinjiang
On the Feed: The Kardashians in China
Phrase of the Week: The 3 souvenirs sold everywhere, but nobody wants them

🗞️ QUICK SCROLLS

🇯🇵 The National Day holiday has begun, but nobody’s going to Japan. Although Japan was the number one outbound destination for Chinese travelers during last year’s October holiday, it has now dropped out of the top ten destinations entirely. According to data from Chinese tour operator Tuniu (途牛), Indonesia, Turkey, and South Korea are among this year’s most-booked overseas destinations.

🚲 Chinese fitness influencer “Abeeeer” was caught cheating during the Berlin Marathon after she posted about running her “personal best.” The sport-blogger (530k+ followers on Xiaohongshu) was photographed riding on the back of a bicycle around the 38-kilometer mark. On Saturday, she publicly apologized and admitted that she had broken the rules and that she was “feeling unwell.”

The sports influencer was caught hitching a ride to the finish line.

🏳️‍🌈 Japanese volleyball player Rui Takahashi came out as gay on Tuesday, saying he wanted to help others struggling with their sexuality by coming out publicly. On Douyin, many Chinese fans and commenters praised Rui for his bravery.

🤖 Former Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin (胡锡进) published a National Day essay praising the country’s achievements but forgot to delete the AI chatbot’s closing follow-up question (”Would you like me to read through the whole text again and check it for omissions?”). Hu quickly deleted the AI prompt, but “Hu Xijin’s National Day AI ghostwriting fail” had already gone trending.

⚽ Chinese football produced…

China AI

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

Published

3 months ago

August 12, 2026

Manya

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, DeepSeek – known as the cheapest LLM model around – announced a raise in its API prices, showing that LLM models in China, like food delivery platforms, follow a clear strategy of first attracting users and subsidizing growth, then monetizing once users are locked in.

🐸 “Antibiotic bullfrogs” are a new cause for concern. Bullfrogs sold through e-commerce channels, popularly used in various dishes (like bullfrog hotpot), have been found to contain excessive antibiotic residues after being tested by an independent Shanghai investigation team. Antibiotics are widely used in bullfrog farming.

🌾 A 67-year-old farmer from Anhui ruined 25 acres of crops after following a chatbot’s advice on which pesticides to use. The AI tool recommended a strategy including fomesafen, which killed the farmer’s entire sesame plant crop. Chinese state media highlighted the story as a warning to the growing number of senior citizens who are relying on AI a bit too much.

👁️ A Chinese ad campaign for contact lenses has been taken offline because it starred an AI actress who doesn’t actually have eyes. Last week, I reported on the success of this AI actress, Fang Taozi (方桃子), in the AI micro drama “Laid-Off Girl” (被裁掉的女孩). After a Chinese cosmetic contact-lens brand paid a large sum to feature the actress in its commercial, regulators flagged it because the virtual actress claimed…