YouTube sensation draws huge crowds in trip to China

CGTN Europe

IShowSpeed’s trip to China has taken social media by storm.  The influencer is crossing the country on a marathon tour of China’s biggest landmarks, and he’s livestreaming the whole thing.  CGTN’s Siobhan McCall reports.   #IShowSpeed #China #Speed

Transcript

00:00iShowSpeed's videos of his marathon tour of China have got millions of views.

00:05This is one of the most popular moments as he learns Kung Fu with a Shaolin monk in Henan.

00:15He also put on a traditional Chinese floral suit and then claimed to have made history

00:20as the first person to do a backflip on the Great Wall of China.

00:25Countdown from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Great Wall of China!

00:36In Shanghai, he was blown away by the beautiful views and his tour there made it into the

00:40top 10 searches on Weibo with 45 million hits.

00:44Meanwhile, a big crowd cheered him on as he tried the spiciest hot pot in Chengdu.

00:51Oh my God, I'm dying, I'm dying, I'm dying.

00:55And he gave his followers a heart-stopping moment as he climbed a famous love ladder

01:00that hangs off a cliff and has no guardrails.

01:04Oh my God! Oh my God!

01:09Speed's passionate videos and exchanges with the locals saw him go viral

01:13and he was also praised for bridging cultural gaps.

01:17And this author said, I show Speed did more to help the country's soft power in one day

01:22than he had in his entire career as an expert on China's economy.

01:27Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy in the US called Speed's videos a different way

01:32for foreign audiences to experience China.

01:35And while Speed leads the way with his huge number of followers,

01:39he's not the only international influencer giving an insight into life in China.

01:45Sam Pepper from the UK has more than 2 million followers on YouTube

01:49and has gained a lot of fans with his videos of visits to the Chinese version

01:53of popular Western stores like Walmart.

01:57And as these young influencers share the fun they have had in China,

02:00it's hoped that their fans will come and see for themselves,

02:04especially with a number of countries now enjoying visa-free and transit-free entry to China.

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