If you like to scroll through short videos, you may have encountered Tony Zhu, the Chinese salesman who blends comedy with LED promotional signs. The 26-year-old has amassed a global following by transforming ordinary ads into humorous skits. Chen Mengfei travels to Guangzhou to bring us his story. 

Out in Guangzhou's suburbs, we find Tony Zhu at his workplace. This young Chinese salesman is famous on the internet, being featured on American television. In these short clips, Tony promotes signage products with uncanny accents and impersonations. But his real knack lies in giving satirical reactions to other people's videos, with an irreverent attitude that has his viewers reeling. In the comments, users from all over the world gush about their affection for this young 'homie' in China.

TONY ZHU, Social Media Director, LC Sign "It feels very awesome. I could say, Yes, I never imagined that I could be like this, even just a year ago."

This fandom came unexpectedly for the 26-year-old, who never set out to become an internet celebrity. He grew up with his parents working at a skate shoe factory in Dongguan, and English was his favorite subject. So he sought a job that would allow him to become a foreign trade salesman, eventually landing in this signage company in Guangzhou. Initially, he was making conventional product videos like many others, but after a year, they still garnered little traction. That's when he decided to step in front of the camera, drawing inspiration from the Western comedians he admired.

TONY ZHU, Social Media Director, LC Sign "One of my favorites is Russell Peters. And he does a lot of accents in his show. So I'm like one day, I just think, hey, maybe I could do some accents in the videos? So we tried, people loved it."

As some of these videos garnered millions of views, new customers were brought in.

TONY ZHU, Social Media Director, LC Sign "It's not as people thought it could be like 5 times or 10 times of growth. No. We made a growth from 5 to 10 % in total. And to me, that's actually pretty good."

Last year, Tony bought his first car.

TONY ZHU, Social Media Director, LC Sign "I used the money I earned from selling signs to Germany to buy a German car."

Each day, Tony and his team create about two videos for social media. To maintain the momentum, a lot of brainstorming is required.

TONY ZHU, Social Media Director, LC Sign "He said South Africa has no electricity, well we'll sell him our non-electric signs."

While Tony views himself as just a salesman doing his job, his fans seem to project onto him something far greater.

CHEN MENGFEI, CGTN Reporter "So I read one internet comment that says Tony could fix US-China trade relations. What do you think of that?"

TONY ZHU, Social Media Director, LC Sign "Wow. If I get the chance to meet Mr. president, I'd say come on Trump. Think about it. Think about it maybe. Yeah, I went to America and I found a lot of ideas that we could learn from. And we also have a lot of American sign company customers coming to China, and they look at what we do and they also find something they can learn. I find it a very amazing thing. Rather than treating each other like an enemy. I think it'd be much better if we chose to learn from each other during competition, during cooperation. It would eventually benefit both sides, I think."

It awaits to be seen whether the popular salesman's online influence can sway trade policy. Chen Mengfei, CGTN, Guangzhou.