China Celebs
“Wow I’m So Fast!” – Olympic Swimmer Fu Yuanhui Becomes Chinese Internet Sensation
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.
The Summer Olympics in Rio have been a trending topic on Chinese social media for the past week. Among all matches and athletes, a 20-year-old girl swimmer, Fu Yuanhui (@傅园慧) has just won the hearts of tens of thousands of netizens for her sincere and funny remarks after the women’s 100m backstroke.
In the semi-finals of the women 100m backstroke on August 7, Fu Yuanhui ranked third with a time of “58,95, which means she will participate in the finals on August 9.
Fu Yuanhui, born in 1996 in Hangzhou, is a female swimmer in the Chinese national team. Fu also competed in the 2012 London Olympics and won the 50-metre backstroke at the World Aquatics Championship in 2015. She is an internationally-ranked backstroke specialist.
After the semi-finals, Fu Yuanhui became a hot topic on Chinese social media, included in the top 3 hot searches list of Sina Weibo. Her popularity on the social media network is not all thanks to her swimming performance in the match – it is mainly for the interview she gave afterward.
[Check out subtitled version of the interview here.]
The interview with Fu Yuanhui after the 100m backstroke semi-finals.At hearing her result, Fu exclaimed with surprise and delight: “58,95 ? ! I thought I did 59 seconds! Wow! Am I so fast? I am very pleased!” She told the journalist that she was not “holding back” but that she has used all of her “mystical powers” (洪荒之力, literally: power strong enough to change the universe).
She also said this was her best result and that she had been working long and hard for this result. When asked if she had high expectations for the finals, Fu answered with a bright smile, “Not at all! I am already very pleased!”
Immediately after the interview, many netizens expressed their affection for Fu, whom they titled “the comedian in the swimming profession” (泳界谐星). The interview video was shared thousands of times within 24 hours, receiving 10,000s comments. Emoticons and caricature figures of Fu followed within no time, turning the swimming star into a popular meme, with netizens posting pioctures of themselves copying Fu’s facial expressions.
“I don’t have high expectations for tomorrow, I am already very pleased!”
By comic author Ding Yichen (@丁一晨DYC)
Netizens copying Fu’s facial expressions.
Many netizens praise Fu as “simple and non-pretentious” (单纯不做作). Some felt her funny expressions and genuine delight were a breath of fresh air compared to most Chinese athletes who often talk about their achievements in a much more serious manner. Her down-to-earth attitude about the finals also won the sympathy of many netizens.
By now, Fu has over 1.8 million followers on her official Weibo account.
“She is my goddess,” one netizen says: “I think everyone will love her after seeing the interview.”
One of the many images being shared on Weibo, saying: “I am so happy!”
-By Diandian Guo
Follow @WhatsOnWeibo
©2016 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.
China Arts & Entertainment
‘First Lady of Hong Kong TV’ Lily Leung Passes Away at Age 90
Chinese netizens pay their respects to veteran actress Lily Leung Shun-Yin (1929-2019), who passed away on August 13.
While the Hong Kong protests are dominating the headlines, the death of Hong Kong veteran actress Lily Leung Shun-Yin (梁舜燕) has become a top trending topic on social media site Sina Weibo under the hashtag “Hong Kong Actress Liang Shunyan Dies from Illness” (#香港演员梁舜燕病逝#).
Lily Leung, image via http://www.sohu.com/a/333418087_161795.
The actress was born in Hong Kong in 1929. She starred in dozens of television series, including the first TV drama to be locally broadcasted. She became known as “the first lady of Hong Kong TV.”
Leung acted for TVB and other broadcasters. Some of her more well-known roles were those in Kindred Spirit (真情) and Heart of Greed (溏心风暴).
Leung, also nicknamed ‘Sister Lily’ (Lily姐), passed away on August 13. According to various Chinese media reports, the actress passed peacefully surrounded by family after enduring illness. She was 90 years old.
“I’ve seen so much of her work,” many Weibo netizens say, sharing the favorite roles played by Leung. “I always watched her on TVB while growing up, and will cherish her memory,” one commenter wrote.
Another well-known Hong Kong actress, Teresa Ha Ping (夏萍), also passed away this month. She was 81 years old when she died. Her passing away also attracted a lot of attention on Chinese social media (
#演员夏萍去世#).
Many people express their sadness over the fact that not one but two grand ladies from Hong Kong’s 20th-century entertainment era have passed away this month.
“Those people from our memories pass away one by one, and it represents the passing of an era,” one Weibo user wrote.
“Two familiar faces and old troupers of Hong Kong drama – I hope they rest in peace.”
By Manya Koetse
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China Celebs
Iconic Shanghai Singer Yao Lee Passes Away at the Age of 96
Yao Li, one of the seven great singing stars of Shanghai in the 1940s, has passed away.
Chinese singer Yao Lee (姚莉), the ‘Queen of Mandarin pop,’ passed away on July 19 at the age of 96.
The singer, with her ‘Silvery Voice,’ was known as one of the seven great singing stars (“七大歌星”) of Shanghai of the 1940s.
For those who may not know her name, you might know her music – one of her iconic songs was used in the hit movie Crazy Rich Asians.
Yao’s most famous songs include “Rose, Rose, I Love You” (玫瑰玫瑰我爱你), “Meet Again” (重逢), and “Love That I Can’t Have” (得不到的爱情).
Yao, born in Shanghai in 1922, started singing at the age of 13. Her brother Yao Min was a popular music songwriter.
When popular music was banned under Mao in the 1950s, Hong Kong became a new center of the Mandarin music industry, and Yao continued her career there.
On Weibo, the hashtag Yao Lee Passes Away (#姚莉去世#) already received more than 200 million views at time of writing.
Many Chinese netizens post candles to mourn the death of the popular singer, some call her passing “the end of an era.”
“Shanghai of those years is really where it all started,” others say.
Listen to one of Yao’s songs below:
By Manya Koetse
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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
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
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.
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.
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
Jesús
August 9, 2016 at 4:37 pm
No mereces que nadie pierda el tiempo respondiéndote…
Robert
August 10, 2016 at 2:13 am
Miss you ass,humiliate our Chinese citizen
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. 🙂
Cindy
August 9, 2016 at 8:46 am
This is adorable! I hope she does well in the finals. 🙂
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.
Norha
August 11, 2016 at 4:42 am
haha..she really is cute, isn’t she?
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.
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
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