Chinese media has been abuzz in recent weeks with the story of the rise and fall of a social media influencer with a difference.
But while many influencers and their audiences are Gen Zers, this case involved a 39-year-old going by the alias Xiu Cai who amassed nearly 12 million followers by dressing and acting like a man in his 50s and lip-synching old songs on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
Most of his fans appeared to be middle-aged and elderly women from small cities and towns from whom he received a steady income in the form of cash gifts – sometimes involving large sums.
The case became a talking point nationwide as it brought to light the emotional needs of the vast number of elderly in China’s rapidly ageing society and their vulnerability to financial exploitation online.
Xiu Cai’s account was shut down on September 2 – possibly a victim of an ongoing crackdown by the Beijing authorities targeting online influences who are deemed to have a harmful influence on society. There has been no official explanation, but media reports said the tax authorities in Bozhou, Xiu Cai’s home town in Anhui province, had launched an investigation.
But analysts believe that targeting individual online personalities will not solve the wider problems faced by the elderly in Chinese society and said greater social support and efforts to educate them about the risks they face online was needed.
Xiu Cai’s emergence as an unlikely social media star was based on a distinctive persona that some younger Douyin users started to parody.