You’ve Completely Changed My Impression of China

By Bai Ning &Li Jingwen

One morning in June of 2021,we met Celia Esquivel Salguero,a streamer with nearly 200,000 Spanish-speaking fans,in a small and cozy cafe in Hankou.After ten o’clock,with a little boy on her arm,she opened the door of the cafe.

Suddenly Became Popular

“You’ve completely changed my impression of China.” A message on Celia’s social media message board says.There are many similar messages like that on her pages.

Celia is from Guatemala.She married a Chinese man and moved with him to Wuhan,China ten years ago.At Huazhong University of Science and Technology,she successfully passed HSK-6,the highest level of the Chinese proficiency test,and went all the way from a BA in Chinese Language and Literature to an MA in Business Administration.At present,on her social media account “Chapina en China,” the average number of views of each broadcast is between 100,000 and 2 million.

She started her account because she likes to communicate and share her life with others.She also wants to share her love of the Chinese language and culture.At first,she just occasionally shared some of her daily life in China.During the COVID-19 epidemic,staying in Wuhan and seeing the falsified reports given by some Western media sources,she decided to use her own social media account to share with the world what real life in Wuhan was like.At first,she shared how her family did e-shopping and registration in the residential community.Gradually,her live streams won more and more fans,which attracted interviews from well-known media outlets including CNN,and her fan numbers soared.

塞利婭做了一場關于母校華中科技大學的直播，粉絲們紛紛留言，與她在線互動。Celia Esquivel Salguero live streaming her alma mater Huazhong University of Science and Technology,her fans chatting with her online.

塞利婭直播戲劇演員上妝。Celia live streaming an opera actress wearing makeup.

2021年6月的一個上午，在漢口一家小而溫馨的咖啡店里，我們見到了擁有近20 萬西班牙語粉絲的博主塞利婭。10 點剛過，她一手抱著孩子，一手推開了咖啡店的門。

無意間走紅

“你完全改變了我對中國的印象。”這是塞利婭的社交賬號留言板上的留言，類似的還有很多。

塞利婭來自危地馬拉，10年前閃婚嫁來中國武漢。在華中科技大學，她順利通過漢語水平考試的最高級，一路從漢語言文學專業本科讀到企業管理碩士。目前，她在帶娃之余做的社交媒體賬號“Chapina en China”（“在中國的危地馬拉姑娘”）上，平均每場直播節目的播放量都在10 萬至200萬之間。

做網絡直播，一方面是因為她天性喜歡與人交流、分享，另一方面也是因為她熱愛漢語和中國文化。最初，她只是零散地分享一些自己在中國的日常生活。新冠肺炎疫情期間，身處疫情第一線，塞利婭對西方媒體的不實報道感到憤慨，決定在自己的社交媒體賬號上分享武漢的真實情況。一開始是分享購物、社區登記等一些小事，后來粉絲越來越多，更引來包括CNN 在內的知名媒體的采訪，粉絲量暴漲。

塞利婭直播自己坐公交去醫院的過程，該視頻瀏覽量逾400 萬。Celia live streaming her trip to the hospital.The video has been viewed more than 4 million times.

As a mother,she spends a lot of time with her child,and thus has limited time to invest in social media.She cannot do much planning for her live stream,and seldom gives notice on upcoming broadcasts.Yet this does not affect her fans’ enthusiasm for her.She said proudly that every time she live streams,many people come to watch,share,and leave comments.

Live Streaming the Real China

When talking about which topic was most popular,she said:“This is very interesting.For some live streams,which I did not expect many views,I actually got quite a lot.”

“When I weaned my son,my husband accompanied me to a maternal and pediatric hospital.We went there by bus.This live stream got the highest views.I introduced my fans to the hospital system—how to register,buy medical records,and the medical treatment system.” Something so common got viewed over 4 million times.

Clearly,cultural differences are what attract many foreign fans.

Celia is familiar with the cultural differences between China and other countries,and it is easy for her to find the right topics to discuss and share.Showing the local breakfast and night market that Wuhan people are used to have become popular posts on her live broadcast.

Once,she went to a movie with her husband.It was one o’clock in the morning when the film was over.Walking in the open street,Celia suddenly felt like live streaming.Her husband was bewildered:“There’s nothing on the street now.What are you going to shoot?” Celia replied,“Nothing there is the right thing to shoot.” In fact,she knew that it was impossible for women to safely walk home in the middle of the night in many other countries.As she expected,right after she started the broadcast,her fans poured into the live room,their comments full of worries.They asked Celia,“Aren’t you afraid of your safety?”

As they passed by several designated drivers,Celia introduced China’s designated driving industry to her fans.Immediately,some fans commented:“If it were in our country,the designated driver would steal the car and kidnap the drunken driver.” China’s safety status quo stunned her fans.

These live streams—true and ordinary to the people living here in China—have changed the impressions on China of many foreign netizens and have made Celia a cultural bridge between China and foreign countries.(Photos courtesy of Celia Esquivel Salguero)

塞利婭一家三口。Celia with her husband and son.

由于大部分時間要照顧孩子，在社交媒體上能投入的時間有限，她的直播較少做計劃，也很少發預告。這并沒影響到粉絲們對她的熱捧。她驕傲地說，每次直播都會有許多觀眾分享和評論。

分享真實

談及什么話題最受歡迎時，她說：“這個很有意思，有時你覺得瀏覽量不會高的反而特別受歡迎。”

“給孩子斷奶時，我老公陪我去婦幼看醫生。我們坐公交去醫院這一次，點擊率最高。我給他們介紹醫院，怎么掛號，買病歷，看病的系統，這些事情。”一件很普通的事，瀏覽量竟然達到了400 萬。

文化差異正是吸引眾多外國粉絲之處。

塞利婭深諳中外文化差異，很容易找到直播看點，武漢人習以為常的“過早”“逛夜市”都是她直播中廣受歡迎的帖子。

有一次，她與丈夫去看電影，散場時已是凌晨1 點。漫步在空曠的大街上，塞利婭突然來了直播的念頭，丈夫很好奇：“現在街上什么都沒有，直播什么？”塞利婭回答：“正是因為什么都沒有，所以才直播。”其實她心里清楚，半夜這樣瀟灑地走回家，在很多國家是不可能的。果然，直播開始后觀眾們陸續涌入直播間，評論里全是擔心的聲音，粉絲們紛紛問塞利婭：“你不怕嗎？”

路過幾位代駕時，塞利婭向粉絲們介紹中國的代駕行業，馬上有粉絲評論說：“在我們國家（代駕）會直接把車開走，把人綁架了。”中國社會的安全感令粉絲們大為驚訝。

就是這樣一段一段平凡而真實的生活直播，改變了許多外國網友對中國的看法，也讓塞利婭成為了溝通中外的橋梁。

（圖片由塞利婭提供）

塞利婭將自己的直播和拉美粉絲的留言翻譯成中文，在自己的抖音賬號上分享。Celia translates her live stream and interactions with her fans into Chinese,and shares them on her Douyin account.