Ding Zhen, a “sweet but wild” Tibetan boy, hits the Internet
Ding Zhen, a 20-year-old Tibetan young man, has made his name on the internet in November, impressing the public with his good looks and innocent smiles.
Ding Zhen, coming from Litang, Garze Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Sichuan Province, went viral because of a less than 10-second video on Nov. Netizens created a new phrase — “‘sweet but wild’ boy” to describe his “wildness and purity”. After the release of the video, this young man took the internet by storm, attracting tons of attention. He later was appointed as the ambassador for local tourism and interviewed by CCTV in the Tibetan language. Even Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying posted several tweets about him. The topics relevant to him later aroused hot debates.
This young man becomes an internet sensation by a less than ten-second video. It is no wonder that he aroused a lot of envy and skepticism. A web celebrity singer even adapted Joker Xue’s single Not Love Me to diss Ding Zhen. The lyrics — “Ten years of hard study is nothing, compared with Ding Zhen’s smile” have touched the hearts of many peers.
Ding Zhen’s social identity and label
Name: TashiDingzhen
Gender: male
Ethnicity: Tibetan
Birth: 2000
Place of birth: Li Tang, Garze Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Sichuan Province
Hobby: horse racing
It is said on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging platform, that “TashiDingzhen” in Tibetan means “auspicious pearl”, and Ding Zhen’s beloved pony is also called Pearl. However, some Tibetans who hold skepticism said that his name has nothing to do with pearl. Generally, it should be interpreted as “Dan Zeng” (丹增), which has a religious connotation and sounds more serious than “pearl”. If it is true, “Dan Zeng” represents the cultural genes of this youth who longs for Lhasa. And if it is interpreted as pearl, then it is in line with his romantic character so that the public would look at him and his world in a more “aesthetic” way.
Ding Zhen’s Story
The person who directly contributed to Ding Zhen’s popularity is Hu Bo, @Smile Collector Bro Bo (微笑收藏家·波哥).
On Nov. 11 when everyone was busy with shopping, Hu posted a video on his Douyin, a domestic version of the TikTok short video platform, with the caption “Many female fans ask me to take more photos of Ni Ma. I didn’t encounter Ni Ma, but I met his brother Ding Zhen”.
Hu is a photographer who was shooting a series of short films #Smiles in Plateau# in Litang. He often shared some of the scenes and people that he photographed in Tibetan areas. He first took photos of Ding Zhen’s uncle in August this year. Later, he updated something about the uncle from time to time. Afterward, he started to photograph Ding Zhen’s younger brother “Ni Ma” (in Tibetan meaning sun).
One day, at the request of female fans, he planned to take photos of Ni Ma, whereas accidentally captured Ding Zhen who was to buy his instant noodles.
As a result, Ding Zhengot millions of attention because of his pure smile. His name became a hot topic on Weibo. Under the arrangement of agents, he started to have live streaming. The local departments of culture and tourism instantly stated that they need to protect children from Litang in this chaotic KOL circle. Thus, he signed a contract with a state-owned company and became the ambassador of his hometown. Cultural and tourism departments of many provinces later came out to invite him for a visit, sparking a “grabbing war”. For them, Litang’s success is a model, and by connecting with Ding Zhen, they would get some promotional benefits for local tourisms.
During this process, the “sweet but wild” boy went viral.
How popular he has become?
Hot topics relevant to Ding Zhen
#how handsome a Tibetan Kangba man is#
#Ding Zhen#
#Ding Zhen Produce Camp IV (a Chinese boy group reality competition show)#
#The photographer responds to Ding Zhen’s popularity#
#Ding Zhen dreams to be ‘Horse Prince’#
#Whether should Ding Zhen leaves his hometown for a better development#
#Ding Zhen has signed a contract to be an employee of a state-owned company#
#Ding Zhen opened a Weibo account#
……
Timetable
Based on the statistical analysis of Weibo data, the event that Ding Zhen gets popular lasts for about 10 days and 14 hours, with the peak speed reaching approximately 316 posts per hour.
11, Nov.
A video of Ding Zhen, taken by a visiting photographer, went viral on Douyin.
11, Nov.
Ding Zhen showed in the photographer’s live streaming room.
17, Nov.
Ding Zhen signed a contract with the state-owned Cultural Tourism Investment Development Company in his local county and became the ambassador of local tourism.
18, Nov.
Ding Zhen opened his personal account on Weibo (ID: Litang Ding Zhen)
19, Nov.
Ding Zhen’s social accounts posted his first video.
25, Nov.
The video The World of Ding Zhen was released.
27, Nov.
A “grabbing war” between different departments of culture and tourism started.
The trigger was Ding Zhen’s interview in which he said the place that he most wants to visit in Lasa. Since he is a Tibetan, a lot of netizens thought his hometown is Tibet. As a result, a topic about Ding Zhen’s hometown went viral on Weibo. His image as an ambassador became more popular, and a lot of tourism departments invited him to have a visit on Weibo.
28, Nov.
Ding Zhen was interviewed by CCTV — “What do you think of your popularity?”
29, Nov.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying posted three tweets about Ding Zhen.
Earlier Dec.
Ding Zhen was reported by media outlets in Japan and South Korea.
Behind Ding Zhen’s Popularity
Some say:
Ding Zhen’s popularity has multiple factors — his nature and purity, accidental capture by a photographer, marketing of local departments, the connection with the theme of “Decisive Victory to Achieve Poverty Alleviation” in 2020…
Some say:
The sensation of Ding Zhen is a state-level model for producing a web celebrity. The whole process comes so naturally in design, technical details, and public opinion guidance. Especially, it has a crafty grasp of the propaganda degree and a skillful control over the psychology of the audience. It is a rare successful model…
Others say:
The virtual world is full of chances. There are always some keyboard men who are envious of others and who claim the conspiracy theory. They even try all methods to dig out anything bad about him. That’s not cool!
What’s your opinion?
