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A recently little-known Taiwan-born singer, actor, and personal trainer has become an overnight viral sensation in China.
Since the beginning of lockdown in Shanghai, Liú Gēnghóng 刘畊宏 (aka Will Liu) has been broadcasting 90-minute work-out sessions from his apartment in Shanghai with his wife, Wáng Wǎnfēi 王婉霏 (Vivi Wang), every evening on Douyin, China's TikTok, as well as a session on Saturday mornings.
Millions of people in Shanghai are still under strict lockdown. Liu's work-outs give them something to look forward to each day (Sohu, Chinese).
如果你在每天晚上打开朋友圈，至少一半的女性好友都变身了“刘畊宏女孩”
If you open your social media feed every evening, you’ll see that at least half of your female friends have become ‘Liu Genghong girls’.
The number of viewers is staggering. Over the past month, more than 100 million people have watched Liu's livestreams. A single broadcast was watched by 44.76 million people, the biggest audience on Douyin this year, according to tech blog, 36Kr:
刘畊宏抖音粉丝正式突破4000万。更疯狂的是，4月20日刘畊宏抖音粉丝量突破2000万，一天后4月21日晚就破3000万，换言之一天涨粉1000万，令人惊叹
Liu Genghong’s followers on Douyin officially broke through 40 million. Even more crazy is on 20 April, his followers had reached 20 million, and on the next day he amazingly hit 30 million - in other words gaining another 10 million followers within one day.
Liu’s wife, Wáng Wǎnfēi 王婉霏 (Vivi Wang) also does sessions with him. She can’t always keep up with his incredible energy and is often in the background doing less intense exercises with a pained expression on her face; fans love this and can relate.
Liu has been blocked by Douyin three times due to his chest being too big. He leveraged this as an opportunity by wearing a thick coat in his next sessions to stop the censors panicking and closing him down. This too was a big hit with fans.
But the real winner is Douyin. Many of Liu’s new fans are also new to the platform and joined to watch his livestreams.
Thanks to Liu’s success, there’s also talk of the fitness industry becoming China’s next big thing (163.com, Chinese):
健身是下一个全民风口，一直以来，健身直播都缺失代表性人物，刘畊宏刚好赶上了这个节点。”与此同时，抖音也抓住了刘畊宏这个崛起的博主
Fitness is the next big thing in China. Fitness live streaming has always lacked a representative brand name. Liu Genghong has caught this trend. At the same time, Douyin has grabbed the opportunity of Liu’s rise.
So this week we explore conversations of Liu’s meteoric rise with my five favourite words, and then diving into the vocab you’ll need to discuss in more detail.
Favourite Five
Here are my favourite five words and phrases which defined this news story:
1. 磕CP kē c - p
love your favourite celebrity couple
这样的感情羡煞旁人，大家都沉浸在磕CP的快乐中 - The relationship they have is enviable. Fans are so happy just appreciating their favourite couple.
Note: ‘CP’ is Chinese internet slang for ‘couple’; 磕 kē means ‘to eat’ but here is means to like or appreciate.
More: also translated as ‘shipping’ - I am shipping that couple.
2. 撒狗粮 sǎ gǒu liáng
sprinkle dog food; couple showing their love/affection for each other
刘畊宏是和妻子一起健身，二人在健身过程中，还不忘“撒狗粮” - As Liu and his wife exercise together, they don’t forget to show their affection towards each other in the process.
3. 出圈儿 chū quān' ér
cross over into the mainstream
刘畊宏却是首个让健身直播出圈儿的人 - Liu Genghong is the first fitness live-streamer to cross over into the mainstream.
Related: 破圈 pò quān, break though (also 出圈 chū quān)
4. 反差萌 fǎn chā méng
cute contrast
妻子在一旁“划水”的痛苦表情也与屏幕前的网友形成共鸣，这一“反差萌”吸粉无数 - His wife, whose painful expression while trying hard to keep up alongside Liu, has struck a chord with netizens who feel the same pain as her. This 'cute contrast' between the two of them has helped attract countless new fans.
More: 划水 huá shuǐ - ‘rowing’ meaning to slack off or be lazy at work (same as 摸鱼, feeling fish); here it means to do less intense exercises.
See SupChina’s phrase of the week for more on this background.
5. 不温不火 bù wēn bù huǒ
neither warm nor hot; mediocre
以前在淘宝平台上的直播，刘畊宏直播不温不火 - Previously Liu Genghong’s Taobao performance was mediocre.
Note: this idiom appeared in almost every article I read on this story, so if you learn nothing else this week, commit this idiom to memory.
Consuming the conversation
Here are this week’s words of the week. I’ve included some basics too because the different words for excercise can be confusing.
Basics
跳操 tiào cāo - dancing, or working out (or somewhere in between)
燃脂 rán zhī - fat burning (fat can also be pronounced zhǐ)
毽子操 jiànzi cāo - kicking workout (this is a new one invented by Liu which is based on a type of traditional Chinese sport)
健身操 jiàn shēn cāo - aerobics
Useful words
眼馋 yǎn chán
to be envious
刘畊宏成了最新顶流，各大平台看着眼馋不已 - Liu Genghong has become a top Internet celebrity on Douyin, which is making all the other platforms watch enviously.
乌龙 wū lóng
own-goal
他因三次乌龙事件，引起大众对其的兴趣，他靠着三次禁播而“出圈”，频上热搜 - There were three mistakes which caused audiences to be interested in him. He took advantage of his livestream being blocked by the platform in order to cross over into the mainstream and regularly at the top of the search rankings.
Note: first discussed in 1 May newsletter last year.
卖力 mài lì
hard work
他一边做起大幅运动，一边卖力地喊着“come on动起来” - He exercises vigorously and at the same time does his best to shout ‘come on’ to get people moving.
打赏 dǎ shǎng
reward, online rewards paid by viewers
每场直播打赏分成50%，还赚了无限流量 - The platform takes 50% of earnings from online payments as well as gaining limitless traffic.
拉满 lā mǎn
a full experience, satisfied
超强且密集的健身动作、以及刘畊宏1V1私教般不停地鼓励，让网友们健身感直接拉满 - Strong and intense exercises, as well as Liu’s continuous 1-1 encouragement, create a great feeling and experience for netizens taking part.
Note: originally a gaming word meaning the ‘full combination’ of good skills and data.
