And trust me, the irony of this recent admiration - sometimes edging into fetishization - of China as the world is also growing fearful of ChinaвЂ™s potential surveillance with TikTok is also not lost on me. вЂњI think these videos are going so viral now because people living outside of China may have never imagined that Chinese people are so invested in fashion.вЂќ I hope that through these videos, people are more excited to learn about China,вЂќ she said. вЂњI think itвЂ™s very refreshing for people to get this new insight into Chinese street fashion. Yin is from Chengdu, one of the cities where fashion photographers are posted up, and she said sheвЂ™s really proud and excited about the reception her videos are getting. Photographers are posting them directly, which, just like the influencer industry in the US, helps to build their own accounts and followings online. Yin said she hasnвЂ™t seen any brands post these videos directly. In certain videos on Douyin, fashion brands are directly tagged or linked, and certain links will take you directly to the brandвЂ™s website or vendors. I believe itвЂ™s a more вЂrelatableвЂ™ way of advertising clothes,вЂќ she added.

вЂњItвЂ™s used by brands as a method of advertisement. She told me itвЂ™s not a вЂњfashion weekвЂќ event in China per se, but brands have a heavy hand in it. вЂњWith the rise of influencer culture, many influencers actually go out dressing very stylish in hopes of being filmed and having their video go viral on Douyin in order to gain more exposure,вЂќ said Yin, 20, whoвЂ™s based in Hawaii. Many of the people featured in the videos are models and influencers, and they know where to find these photographers and videographers.ДЄnd to answer my friend MarieвЂ™s question simply: It is kind of a coordinated stunt for the fashion industry. The photographers congregate in a few very specific areas across China: in the popular shopping Taikoo Li district in Chengdu in Sanlitun, the restaurant and nightlife hot spot of Beijing and in the historic fashion district of Xintiandi in Shanghai (fun fact: this is where my mom used to shop when she was a teenager - it looked very different 40 years ago) She offered a lot of sharp insight.ДЄccording to whose name is Yin and is Chinese American herself, the videos were all originally shared by the same group of photographers. But one TikTok user, whoвЂ™s been pasting together and posting many of these videos from Douyin, did. They never got back to me because theyвЂ™re too busy being cool and fashionable. I thought that was a really interesting question, so I WeChatted my cool, fashionable teenage cousins in China. She also asked if these street videos were all orchestrated in response to the coronavirus since nearly all indoor fashion week events have been canceled this year. A friend (hi Marie) messaged me, admiring them and asking what theyвЂ™re all about.

One video posted last week has been viewed over 24 million times. I was a bit surprised by how popular these videos have become, and the strong reactions to them online. But this is getting further from the point of the newsletter. In certain parts of international cosmopolitan cities, high fashion is so pervasive it does feel like a constant вЂњfashion week.вЂќ (The economic boom in China has enabled a lot of young people to become wealthy and enjoy luxuries their parents never could have afforded, like haute couture. IвЂ™m a first-generation Chinese immigrant with most of my family members still back in China, so I visit the country fairly often, and these videos didnвЂ™t surprise me too much. The videos have become hugely viral outside of China - and even off the platform. And many Douyin users have been reuploading various photographersвЂ™ and videographersвЂ™ compilations to their TikTok accounts. The fashionable people give an вЂњOh, I didnвЂ™t see you thereвЂќ look to camera, and the whole trend gives us a false, but fun, impression that everyone in China looks straight off the runway.ДЄll of these Anglo TikToks are ripped off of Douyin, ChinaвЂ™s approved TikTok thatвЂ™s owned by the same Beijing-based tech company. They all seem to be filmed in China, and from the vantage point of a videographer who just happens upon the person on the street. You may have seen at least one of these viral TikTok compilations of highly fashionable people in the past week.

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