Amy Lyons (Chinese: 李慧琳; pinyin: Lǐ Huìlín[1]) is an Australian media personality and influencer active in China, where she is known as a "wǎng hóng" (网红),[1] which in China means people who are famous on social media.[2] She is best known for her Bilibili channel "艾米饭" and YouTube channel "Blondie in China", which explores different cuisines and delicacies in China.
Life
Amy Lyons was born in the city of Sydney,[3] and is an alumna of the secondary school Pymble Ladies' College.[4] She stated that her interest in China began with a history class she took in her final year there in 2011,[1] as the teacher was highly interested in the country.[3] As an international commerce student at the University of New South Wales,[1] she began taking Mandarin Chinese courses in 2012,[3] and in 2014 she took a 7-month student exchange at Fudan University, Shanghai.[1][5] Around 2014 she began working at a bank in Australia, but disliked it,[1] and she also served as a rugby league cheerleader in the Manly Seabirds, the cheerleading team of the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.[3]
In 2015, she entered into the "Chinese Bridge" Chinese language competition and qualified to be the Australian representative.[5] She received about 1,000 followers on Sina Weibo after the Chinese Bridge producers suggested she do so.[1] A Chinese friend gave her a Chinese name, which Lyons said was chosen to reflect her personality.[5]
In February 2017, she moved to Beijing to take Chinese courses at Tsinghua University, and she began learning shaolin kung fu.[4] She stated that she decided to extend her social media activities after arriving in Beijing.[1] In 2017, on her Chinese social media platforms she had a total of 65,000 followers.[3] As of 2017[update] her most prominent social media platform was Miaopai.[6] That year she had 1,100 followers on Instagram.[3] She received increased social media coverage in a video called "Chopstick Legs",[3] as she stated that Chinese people are attracted to having long, thin legs.[6] As of 2017[update] it had over three million views, making it her video with the most views.[1]
See also
- Wanghong economy
- Australians in China
- Afu Thomas (Thomas Derksen) - German internet celebrity active in China
- Dashan - Canadian television personality in China
- Lee and Oli Barrett - British social media personalities in China
- David Gulasi - Australian internet celebrity active in China
- Raz Galor - Israeli social media figure in China
- Winston Sterzel - South African social media figure in China
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Mullin, Kyle (2017-12-04). "Mandarin Monday: Q&A With Australian Internet Celebrity Amy Lyons, AKA Li Huilin". The Beijinger. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
- ^ McCauley, Dana (2017-09-10). "Why China knows this Aussie better than you do". Stanthorpe Border Post. Retrieved 2020-04-28.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c d e f g "Sydney's Amy Lyons is raking it in as a Chinese social influencer". news.com.au. 2017-09-11. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
As her fan base grew, the former Manly Seabirds cheerleader and Pymble Ladies' College alumnus[...]
- Re-post at New Zealand Herald - ^ a b McNab, Alexander Cecil (2018-02-24). "Kung Fu Foreigner". The World of Chinese. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
[...]Lyons graduated from Pymble Ladies' College, in a suburb of Sydney, with a degree in marketing,[...]
- The article misidentifies Pymble as her university (as "college" in American English means a university). - ^ a b c Rothfield, Phil (2015-06-28). "Manly Seabirds cheerleader Amy Lyons competing in Chinese speaking competition". The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
- ^ a b Evlin, Lin (2017-09-04). "Amy Lyons, 24yo star of Chinese social media, takes stock of 'quirky' career path". ABC (Australia). Retrieved 2019-12-10.
External links
- Amy Lyons Profile - Chinese Bridge (in Chinese)
- "Chinese social media star Amy Lyons explains the world of 'Wang Hong'". Triple J. ABC (Australia). 2017-08-31.
- Galvan, Michael Bryan (2018-05-17). "Tips for a foreigner to become online celebrity in China". China.org.cn.
- "Amy Lyons has tens of thousands of followers and her videos have been viewed millions of times". The New Daily. 2017-08-24.
This page was last edited on 20 March 2024, at 13:10