This week, 20-year-old American influencer Darren Watkins Jr., better known as IShowSpeed, concluded a multi-week, high-profile tour of China. With nearly 120 million online followers across all of his platforms, IShowSpeed produced dozens of hours of live footage and created a unique moment of China-U.S. cultural exchange that recalled the American “TikTok refugee” exodus to Xiaohongshu/RedNote in January. The tour was widely seen as a major soft-power win for the Chinese government, and renewed the debate over foreign influencers’ role in disseminating pro-China narratives on Western social media. (Addressing accusations that Chinese authorities had funded the trip, a member of iShowSpeed’s team in China insisted that Speed received “$0” from the government.) Manya Koetse at What’s On Weibo described how Chinese state media amplified some of IShowSpeed’s livestreams:
This week’s streams showed that both IShowSpeed’s team and the Chinese coordinators behind the scenes were even better prepared for the livestreamed visits and the enormous spectacle it brings to the places he goes. Some Chinese state media even started livestreaming his streams as well. In just ten days, Watkins has become a mega-celebrity in China, where he wasn’t that famous before — and he’s been trending on social media practically every day since March 24. Outside of China, his influence is also growing. During his Hong Kong stream, he reached a personal record of 38 million YouTube subscribers.
IShowSpeed is no longer just an American personality — he’s a marketing platform. Chinese authorities, state media, companies, brands, e-commerce channels, and influencers are all jumping in on the hype to benefit from his popularity.
From the top-down narrative perspective, his China tour has been a huge success. Kung fu performances, traditional opera, pandas, Chinese dance and music, local cuisine highlights, the Great Wall, traditional medicine and yin-yang, futuristic cities alongside ancient culture, high-speed rail, noodles, dancing aunties, and Shaolin monks — his streams became an ultimate representation of the Chinese cultural promotion playbook, and were reported on as such. China’s national broadcaster CCTV aired an entire 8-minute segment on his China tour, covering his adventures. [Source]
The influencer’s tour was largely seen as a success in projecting a positive image of China to Western audiences, and Chinese state-media actors were happy to reinforce that framing. “U.S. Internet star ‘IShowSpeed’ explores the magic of Chongqing,” read a Xinhua headline. “iShowSpeed livestreams show world an unfiltered China,” wrote China Daily. “How US influencer IShowSpeed’s live-stream episodes cast light on real China,” explained the Global Times. In an article titled “IShowSpeed’s in China Did More for its Soft Power Than Most Diplomats,” RADII noted that pro-CCP commentator Shaun Rein said, “Speed has done more to help China’s soft power in one day than I have in my 30 year career. All hail Speed.” Other prominent American influencers praised IShowSpeed for managing to “cut through the noise and show a side of china that is rarely ever seen by american eyes.”
However, IShowSpeed encountered several awkward moments of apparent anti-Black racism that undercut the magic of his tour. One supposed fan gave him a banana wrapped in a KFC bag and then started making monkey noises. Others gave him a bouquet of cotton and a watermelon. Yet others repeatedly called him the N-word, including a female cosplayer in Chengdu whose clip went viral. IShowSpeed took most of these incidents in stride. CDT Chinese editors compiled online reactions to the racism and its effect on the tour’s propaganda value:
披萨馆的战术板: Discrimination on the Chinese internet is as natural as breathing, so in that sort of environment, it’s no surprise that some idiots would go batshit crazy offline, as well.
takanas56121817: One little pink had a brilliant idea, and managed to completely trash the carefully scripted “dream” of [China’s] internal and external propaganda efforts.
大眼仔药丸: The [Chengdu] Bureau of Culture and Tourism must be freaking out. Even if they expel her from school and blacklist her from colleges and universities, it won’t be enough to repair the damage she’s done.
98896692757_bili: She has no clue how much impact her words are going to have abroad. [Chinese]
IShowSpeed’s tour presented a sharp contrast with official Chinese messaging, which is typically tightly controlled and much less popular. Zhang Chang, an associate professor at Communication University of China’s school of government and public affairs, said that propagating a more positive national image of China would require a “diverse and sustained supply of content” that reflected the country’s multifaceted nature: “The most effective communication seems to occur spontaneously and naturally. However, this is underpinned by a societal environment that is open, confident and enriched by a dynamic cultural life.” The spontaneity was not unbroken: after Mango TV’s coverage of IShowSpeed’s highly anticipated encounter with Chinese singer Da Zhang Wei, netizens pushed the topic “Mango cringe” to the top of Weibo’s hot search list, registering their disappointment with the TV station’s shameless self-promotion and tight grip on IShowSpeed’s itinerary.
The tour’s success invites the question of whether it might be repeated with equally strong results. Yaling Jiang expressed skepticism in her Following the Yuan newsletter, arguing that the “unfiltered” nature of the streams was key to their appeal, and would be hard to replicate:
If anyone were to replicate his trip, given Speed’s precedent, local governments may likely control the environment by doing more staging and prepping with the passersby, which would eventually make the show boring. The viewers are sensitive, and there are already domestic online comments saying that the last few stops seem to have more interference from the local cultural and tourism bureaus.
In China, residents are often asked to close their curtains and stay indoors while top political leaders visiting their communities. And here are two more specific examples on what Chinese-style staging looks like: 1. During COVID, the former Vice Premier Sun Chunlan was rumored to have conducted her inspection in Shanghai on a rooftop, which was renovated to resemble a street scene, 2. A global milk powder employee wrote on RedNote this March that consumer interviews were rehearsed five times during global executives’ visits, and local employees were required to stay in the office during 8:30am to 7pm.
[…] Assuming China’s authorities are inspired to see YouTube streams a golden ticket to local tourism and take note on the above accidents, they must feel the need to censor or, from their perspective, plan better. Then the organic interactions and reactions would be gone…I have no doubt that the propaganda departments are planning this already.[Source]
The difficulties have already been demonstrated in Hong Kong, where authorities have pledged to “seize every opportunity” to help visiting influencers amid criticism of the city’s failure to capitalize on IShowSpeed’s visit.
Lawmaker Dominic Lee Tsz-king posted on social media that the arrangement did not include the “best side of Hong Kong,” such as Victoria Harbour, West Kowloon Cultural District, and Kai Tak Sports Park.
He compared Speed’s experiences in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, highlighting the influencer’s engagement with drone food delivery, interaction with robotics, and acquisition of foldable phones in mainland. In contrast, Speed just tasted the street food in Hong Kong and participated in the traditional ritual of villain-beating.
Lee added that Hong Kong lost valuable opportunities to its neighboring city, Shenzhen, and failed to promote Hong Kong’s international character, which is the city’s unique advantage.
Meanwhile, he questioned whether the government had been aware of the influencer’s visit in advance, noting that Shenzhen authorities had arranged multiple activities for Speed.
In response to media requests, the Hong Kong Tourism Board stated that authorities had contacted the YouTuber’s team and offered assistance during his visit. However, the board did not receive any requests. [Source]
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