China's expat community heads online as 'Laowai influencers'

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By CGTN's Zhou Lei‍

When we think of foreign nationals living in China, we immediately think of expats, students and teachers. But with China’s rapid economic boom, we are seeing a rise of a new group of people from overseas who are making China their permanent home.

Calling themselves the “Laowai Influencers”, these individuals are making their public debut via an online social platform called the “Foreign Research Institute”. By engaging themselves with one another in cyberspace, they have so far garnered millions of fans on their platform.

Raz Gal Or, an Israeli living in Beijing and the founder of the "Foreigner Research Institute" / Foreigner Research Institute Photo

The Foreigner Research Institute creates humorous online videos about how expats live their lives in China. To interact with fans on a personal level, these Internet celebrities also chat and sing to fans in live-stream videos.

Raz live-streams a chat with influencer Issac on the “Foreigner Research Institute” platform, in Beijing./Foreigner Research Institute Photo

Born in the 90s, these expats are calling this phenomenon the “New Foreigner Era”, referring to "laowai" who have been localized by Chinese culture. According to Raz Gal Or, the founder of “Foreigner Research Institute”, these foreign nationals not only speak the language, they can also fully grasp the subtleties of Chinese humor.

Ann Kidson, another “Foreigner Research Institute” influencer, writes a message of encouragement for fans in Chinese./Ann Kidson’s Weibo photo

While most of these expats are based in China’s Silicon Valley, Zhongguancun in Beijing, they regularly use Chinese apps and platforms including Weibo, WeChat, and Taobao.

With a huge fan base, the Foreigner Research Institute platform is attracting notable companies like “Meitu” and “Tantan” to work with them. Their next goal is to increase the number of "influencers” on their platform, and to seek more interesting expats throughout China to join the team.

These young and well-educated foreign nationals have made up their mind to explore their career options in China. At the same time, they are also letting the world better understand China, thanks to the power of the Internet.