When a rising star of China’s live-streamers fell in love offline, it cost her the virtual world
With thousands of followers, Shanghai live-streamer Nai Nai was a girlfriend to many, until she met Chinese internet legend Jiang Bo. Little did she know the price she would pay for her feelings.
In the world’s most crowded social media galaxy, where internet stars burn out as fast as they form, Nai Nai was on her way to stardom. A slender migrant relatively new to Shanghai, Nai Nai was a live-streamer. In simpler times, before the coronavirus, she constantly walked around China’s most glamorous city with a mobile phone on a selfie stick, broadcasting to a country that led the world in real-time content.
But a cascade of mishaps and heartbreak forced her to give up live streaming, just as China’s coronavirus lockdown focused millions of eyeballs on computer screens.
Almost every day last year, Nai Nai worked on boosting her fan count. She woke up around midday in her immaculate 215 sq ft flat, ordered brunch via an app, applied her make-up, then picked up her phone. A selfie app further whitened her skin, enlarged her eyes and chiselled her chin.
“Friends, ni hao!” she said cheerfully to her digital image.
Nai Nai’s “friends” were mostly Chinese men aged 15 to 30 from all walks of life. She could not see them but they made themselves known by posting messages and virtual gifts, visible to everyone logged on to her chat room. Messages glided across her image: “you are beautiful”, “I love you”, “show us your legs”, “show us your breasts”, “sleep with me”.
Nai Nai was a virtual girlfriend to many, a loyal friend to none. If you were to stand next to her during a broadcast, you would think she had gone mad: she might begin a sentence about one subject and switch midway to something else, make a heart sign with her fingers and, in response to a gift, end by saying, “Thank you, big brother!” All punctuated by her signature giggle.
