The leaders of the Communist Party might be surprised to find they are indebted to a bouncy 20-year-old livestreamer from Ohio called Darren Watkins junior. He goes by the screen name IShowSpeed and has in one visit done more for China’s image abroad than any amount of turgid party propaganda. On a two-week trip in March and April he showed his 38m followers the country’s rich history (with a backflip on the Great Wall), friendly people (he joked with China’s finest Donald Trump impersonator) and advanced technology (he danced with a humanoid robot, got a KFC meal delivered by drone, and tried out a flying taxi). As he drove into a lake in Shenzhen, safe within an amphibious James-Bond-style electric SUV, Mr Watkins could not believe what was going on. “Oh my God, this car is not sinking…China got it, these Chinese cars got it!” Or as he says frequently throughout his visit, “China’s different, bro.”
The Economist
