Bright and Sunny

By Xie Jianing & Tao Xing

By posting attention-grabbing snippets on Chinas short video platform Douyin， it took an account going by the name Hainan Boy only eight months to grow a following that evolved from three in November 2020 to 72，000 on September 6.

The account comes courtesy of Los Angeles native Tommy Coleman who has been living in China since 2006. The videos he uploads， in which he speaks standard Chinese， Hainan dialect as well as English， usually go pretty heavy on the tongue-in-cheek humor. All in good spirits.

The content is mainly based on Colemans life in Hainan， including local delicacies， traditional customs， beautiful landscapes， and basically anything and everything related to culture and daily life in the southernmost Chinese province. For example， he introduced what he likes most about Hainan， noshing on some steamed buns stuffed with mushrooms. He also shared with followers his experiences of learning the Hainan dialect and making friends with local residents.

“On my last birthday， I got to thinking about my time in China and in Hainan specifically. And I decided to do something，” Coleman told Beijing Review. For the longest time， he had wanted to learn to speak Hainanese， but just kept putting it off.

“Since that very day， I have been studying，”Coleman said. To inspire himself， he started documenting his daily activities on Douyin.

“I am so grateful that I started learning Chinese all those years ago. Over the years， I have learned that if you really want to immerse yourself in a culture， its imperative to learn the local language and dialect，” Coleman said. “I have had so many fascinating and meaningful experiences while learning Chinese and now the Hainan dialect. Plus， Ive made some great friends along the way.”

Streaming to the world

Coleman arrived in Hainan in 2010 and now volunteers as one of the overseas communication officers with the Hainan International Media Center， an organization that helps present Hainan to the outside world.

“My family and friends back in the U.S.， as well as international audiences on social media， can discover all kinds of cool things that are happening in Hainan and China through my sharing，”Coleman said. He has influenced their views on China and many of them are deeply attracted to its stunning sceneries and would love to come visit.

As Hainan eyes the worldwide market， it has become more active in international exchanges. In order to effectively improve officials foreign language skills and their capacity in international communication， the government of Haikou， capital of Hainan， organized an English training course for local administrators and invited Coleman as a teacher.