Top influencer on Douyin has sprouted out of nowhere
Discussing China's latest livestream sensation. But how long will he last?
Welcome to RealTime Mandarin!
It’s a free weekly resource helping you learn contemporary Chinese in context, maintain and improve your Mandarin skills, and stay on top of the latest language trends in China.
Subscribe now to get the next newsletter in your inbox on Saturday.
China’s most followed live-stream celebrity on Douyin is someone you’ve probably never heard of.
His name is Zhāng Qìngyáng 张庆杨. He’s a 27 year-old from Anhui province, and is known as “Crazy Little Brother Yang” (疯狂小杨哥 fēng kuáng xiǎo yáng gē) by his fans.
Four years ago Zhang started posting video content from his dorm.
In March this year, he managed something no live-streamer has achieved:
He became the only person to hit 100 million fans on Douyin.
抖音粉丝破亿的个人账号，小杨哥是独一份
The Darwinian churn of live-stream celebrities in China means that although the industry is barely four years old, the top live-streamers are categorised in ‘generations’ and groups of four:
The first generation of the ‘big four’ kings of live-streaming are Li Jiaqi (一哥), Viya (一姐), Simba (辛巴), and Luo Yonghao (罗永浩). This line-up began with Luo Yonghao going into live-streaming. The next generation ‘big four’ kings are Li Jiaqi, Simba, Dong Yuhui, and Luo Yonghao.
初代带货四天王分别是一哥、一姐以及辛巴和罗永浩，这个阵容是罗永浩进入直播赛道产生的；次代的四天王分别是一哥李佳琦，辛巴，东方甄选董宇辉以及罗永浩
With the arrival of Zhang Qingyang, there may be more churn to come:
Crazy Little Brother Yang may take on the ‘big four’ kings of live-streaming. So some people are describing him as the ‘fifth king’ of the business. This term is from the Hong Kong music scene. Although it’s complimentary, many singers have been called the ‘fifth king’, implying they are not really at the top of the industry. But perhaps Little Brother Yang will be an exception?
“疯狂小杨哥”是很有可能冲击带货“四大天王”的位置的。于是，也有好事者称小杨哥是直播带货界的“第五天王” 。这个词来自香港乐坛，熟悉港乐的朋友应该了解，“第五天王”虽然是个褒义词，但被冠此头衔的歌手颇多，也就很难称得上真正的天王，就没有第五天王转正的。那么，小杨哥会成为那个例外吗？
Douyin’s most followed influencer has attracted more headlines this week.
His purchase of a huge office block in Hefei for 100 million yuan ($13.8 million) for his growing army of employees (10,000 of them, apparently) has caused a stir.
It’s understandable that the outside world is discussing Little Brother Yang’s purchase of the office block for 100 million. The real economy has been hit hard in the last few years with many offline businesses facing huge challenges. Whereas the influencer economy and live-steaming have continuned to show strong growth.
外界对于小杨哥亿元买楼的热议也是可以理解的。近年来，实体经济受到非常大的挑战，很多线下企业都面临着巨大的挑战，与此同时，网红经济和直播带货却始终处于高位增长阶段
So, will Zhang make it into the top four and be here to stay, or is he just another name that comes and goes?
That’s what we explore this week. Through conversations about Little Brother Yang, we pick up some amazing internet slang and online words, idioms, as well as a Tang dynasty poem.
Enjoy!
What you’re missing in the member’s podcast
Today’s member podcast episode is 54 minutes in total, with 29 minutes of excellent native content from our editor Zoe Qian:
Discussion about top phrases @ 25 min 0 secs (5 mins) - this week we go on a deep-dive on three phrases about being popular, or ‘red’. It’s SO interesting if you’re after some nerdy Chinese language facts!
Word list and example sentences @ 30 mins 20 secs (7 mins)
Full article in Chinese @ 37 mins 48 secs (16 mins)
Access it now, and join the community of hundreds of learners of Chinese taking their language skills to the next level.
Favourite Five
1. 2g网 èr jì wǎng
2G connection; out of date
我竟然从来没听过这个人，我太2g 了 - Amazingly, I’ve never heard of this guy. I’m so out of touch.
Note: a reference to 2G phone networks - which is so last century. It’s a metaphor to say someone is a dinosaur or totally out of touch with what’s going on today.
2. 逆流而上 nì liú ér shàng
going against the flow
虽然整体经济形势不容乐观，但直播带货逆流而上 - Even though the overall economy is not in good shape, livestream e-commerce is going against the grain.
3. 说风凉话 shuō fēng liáng huà
say unkind things
挺好的，不知道为啥这么多人说风凉话，支持小杨哥 - This is great. I don’t understand why so many people have a problem with Little Brother Yang. I support him!
4. 红透半边天 hóng tòu bàn biān tiān
half the sky is red; to be doing very well
预估到2023年中国直播电商的市场规模将逼近5万亿元——这也是李佳琦们能够红透半边天的市场基础 - It is estimated that by 2023, the market size of China's live-stream e-commerce sector will be around 5 trillion yuan. This is the foundation for why Li Jiaqi and others are doing so well.
5. 年年岁岁花相似，岁岁年年人不同 nián nián suì suì huā xiāng sì, suì suì nián nián rén bù tóng
people come and go, everything else stays the same
正所谓，“年年岁岁花相似，岁岁年年人不同”，很多大红大紫的带货主播消失了 - As the saying goes, "Every year the flowers are the same, but the people are different." Many popular livestream celebrities have disappeared.
Note: a famous line from a Tang dynasty poem which we discuss in the most recent Phrase of the Week in The China Project.
Consuming the conversation
Useful words
淘系 táo xì
the Taobao Club; streamers on Taobao
从淘系主播到短视频带货主播 - From Taobao streamers to short-video-based livestream.
转战 zhuǎn zhàn
move into a different sector
2018年正式转战抖音短视频 - He officially went into doing short videos on Douyin in 2018.
大关 dà guān
critical point; major milestone
在2022年11月突破1亿大关，成为真正的现象级网红 - He became a true online phenomenon when he hit the 100 million fans milestone.
爆棚 bào péng
loud, busy
在多个备受瞩目的直播间中，李佳琦直播间人气爆棚 - Among the livestream studios that attracted attention, Li Jiaqi’s was by far the most popular.
Note: first discussed in 22 October newsletter
印记 yìn jì
imprint, marking
罗永浩其实一度都在淡化自己带货主播的印记，也一度盛传要和交个朋友切割 - Luo Yonghao has been diluting his brand as a livestreamer, and there have been rumours that he is planning to break with ‘Make a friend’.
紊乱 wěn luàn
disorder; a mess
有时候早上8点直播，有时候半夜直播，作息十分紊乱 - Sometimes he broadcasts at 8am, sometimes in the middle of the night. He has a really irregular schedule.
Note: normally used in relation to body-clock or timetable.
黢黑 qū hēi
black; dark
不管外面是白天还是黑夜，只要关上灯，都是一片黢黑 - It doesn’t matter if it is day or night outside. As soon as the light goes out, it’s pitch black.
Three-character phrases
新势力 xīn shì lì
newcomers
有很多新势力登堂入室，那么，这其中最具代表性的是“疯狂小杨哥” - There are many newcomers that have entered recently. The one that is most representative is Crazy Little Brother Yang.
一道坎 yī dào kǎn
obstacle
小杨哥成为“四大”的路上，必须要迈过辛巴这道坎 - Little Brother Yang is on his way to becoming one of the ‘Big Four’. But in order to get there he needs to get past Simba.
拉下马 lā xià mǎ
take somebody down; defeat somebody
这其中最具代表性的 “疯狂小杨哥”，能将“二代带货四天王”拉下马 - "Crazy Little Brother Yang" is representative of this, but can he defeat the "big four" livestream e-commerce sellers?
Idioms
Today’s idioms are all about grabbing lots of attention!
备受瞩目 bèi shòu zhǔ mù
high profile
这也是小杨哥的短视频账号粉丝破亿后，又一备受瞩目的事件 - This is the next high profile thing after Little Brother Yang reached 100 million fans.
不胫而走 bù jìng ér zǒu
spread like wildfire
由此，“小杨哥干倒科技公司”的传闻不胫而走 - After that, the news of Crazy Little Brother Yang taking down a tech company spread far and wide.
We’ve discussed this a few times in this newsletter, such as in May last year.
屡见不鲜 lǚ jiàn bù xiān
not uncommon
动辄单场带货破千万乃至上亿的新闻屡见不鲜 - It was not uncommon to see news of his livestreams easily generating 10 million, and even 100 million in sales.
流传甚广 liú chuán shèn guǎng
spread far and wide
一则流传甚广的视频是，一位有着十年教龄的前新东方老师，看着东方甄选的直播，抹了眼泪 - A widely circulated video shows a former New Oriental teacher with ten years of teaching experience watching the live broadcast of Oriental Select, while wiping away tears.
相差甚远 xiāng chà shèn yuǎn
far apart, a big difference
最终成交额2亿元——这个金额较一哥确实相差甚远 - The final sales was 200 million yuan. This is indeed much less than Li Jiaqi.
大红大紫 dà hóng dà zǐ
big red, big purple; very popular
很多大红大紫的带货主播消失了 - Lots of very popular live-streamers have disappeared.
Zoe discusses this in the podcast at around 26 minutes.
高歌猛进 gāo gē měng jìn
triumphant
很快粉丝就突破千万，由此一路高歌猛进 - The number of his fans quickly exceeded 10 million. Since then he has been unstoppable.
Note: this is an idiom first used by The Liberation Daily in the 1990’s about the growth of China’s ad industry.
Phrases
嘴皮子溜 zuǐ pí zi liù
a smooth silver tongue; gift of the gab
很多人对直播的理解是这是个卖场，只要嘴皮子溜就能卖出去 - Many people's understanding of live-streaming is that’s the same as selling: If you have a silver tongue you can sell anything.
有的一拼 yǒu de yī pīn
catching up; almost the same as
随着小杨哥在供应链上开始发力，以及其签约主播能够担起更多的带货销售额和流量，或许，和辛巴以及辛选是有的一拼的 - As Little Brother Yang has started to focus on supply chain, and his contracted live-streamers take on more sales and generate more traffic, he could match Simba and his group.
Note: this is a colloquial phrase common in spoken language. The correct way to write it is 有得一拼.
一石激起千层浪 yī shí jī qǐ qiān céng làng
a single stone stirs a thousand waves; the ripple effect
进入11月带货主播“疯狂小杨哥”1.03亿买下合肥房产被外界爆出，一石激起千层浪，引发了非常多的讨论 - In November, live-streamer "Crazy Little Brother Yang" bought a building in Hefei for 103 million yuan. One thing often leads to another and has led to lots of discussions.
Become a member of RealTime Mandarin+
The RealTime Mandarin+ membership is a multimedia resource helping you learn contemporary Chinese in context
If you enjoyed reading the free newsletter, you’ll LOVE our paid membership: RealTime Mandarin+.
Joining Real-Time-Mandarin+, you’ll unlock loads of extra resources to help you dramatically improve your Chinese language skills.
Every week you get access to new content:
🔈Podcast - 30 min podcast every Saturday with 80% native Mandarin (including transcript)
📚 Resources and integrations - Pleco, Skritter, Hack Chinese, mylingua (new!), and PDF printouts
👩🎓 Intermediate newsfeed - One ‘real’ Chinese language news podcast and article published every Sunday, in a lesson format, pitched at an intermediate level
💬 Community - Slack community, Substack Chat, online meet-ups, in-person gatherings
🤿 Quarterly Deep Dives - One hour webinars focussing on one key challenge of intermediate learners delivered around the end of every quarter.
When you join, you’ll also have an optional 1-1 onboarding and coaching call to help orientate you.
It’s the best way to get motivated, inspired, and kick-start your Mandarin learning habit.
You can access all of these resources for less than the cost of one pint per week in a London pub.
It’s a no brainer (and much better for you)!
So, if you’ve been on the fence for a while, now is the time to confront it, invest in yourself, and commit!
Happy learning!
Andrew