You’ve Completely Changed My Impression of China

By Bai Ning &Li Jingwen

One morning in June of 2021,we met Celia Esquivel Salguero,a streamer with nearly 200,000 Spanish-speaking fans,in a small and cozy cafe in Hankou.After ten o’clock,with a little boy on her arm,she opened the door of the cafe.

Suddenly Became Popular

“You’ve completely changed my impression of China.” A message on Celia’s social media message board says.There are many similar messages like that on her pages.

Celia is from Guatemala.She married a Chinese man and moved with him to Wuhan,China ten years ago.At Huazhong University of Science and Technology,she successfully passed HSK-6,the highest level of the Chinese proficiency test,and went all the way from a BA in Chinese Language and Literature to an MA in Business Administration.At present,on her social media account “Chapina en China,” the average number of views of each broadcast is between 100,000 and 2 million.

She started her account because she likes to communicate and share her life with others.She also wants to share her love of the Chinese language and culture.At first,she just occasionally shared some of her daily life in China.During the COVID-19 epidemic,staying in Wuhan and seeing the falsified reports given by some Western media sources,she decided to use her own social media account to share with the world what real life in Wuhan was like.At first,she shared how her family did e-shopping and registration in the residential community.Gradually,her live streams won more and more fans,which attracted interviews from well-known media outlets including CNN,and her fan numbers soared.

塞利娅做了一场关于母校华中科技大学的直播，粉丝们纷纷留言，与她在线互动。Celia Esquivel Salguero live streaming her alma mater Huazhong University of Science and Technology,her fans chatting with her online.

塞利娅直播戏剧演员上妆。Celia live streaming an opera actress wearing makeup.

2021年6月的一个上午，在汉口一家小而温馨的咖啡店里，我们见到了拥有近20 万西班牙语粉丝的博主塞利娅。10 点刚过，她一手抱着孩子，一手推开了咖啡店的门。

无意间走红

“你完全改变了我对中国的印象。”这是塞利娅的社交账号留言板上的留言，类似的还有很多。

塞利娅来自危地马拉，10年前闪婚嫁来中国武汉。在华中科技大学，她顺利通过汉语水平考试的最高级，一路从汉语言文学专业本科读到企业管理硕士。目前，她在带娃之余做的社交媒体账号“Chapina en China”（“在中国的危地马拉姑娘”）上，平均每场直播节目的播放量都在10 万至200万之间。

做网络直播，一方面是因为她天性喜欢与人交流、分享，另一方面也是因为她热爱汉语和中国文化。最初，她只是零散地分享一些自己在中国的日常生活。新冠肺炎疫情期间，身处疫情第一线，塞利娅对西方媒体的不实报道感到愤慨，决定在自己的社交媒体账号上分享武汉的真实情况。一开始是分享购物、社区登记等一些小事，后来粉丝越来越多，更引来包括CNN 在内的知名媒体的采访，粉丝量暴涨。

塞利娅直播自己坐公交去医院的过程，该视频浏览量逾400 万。Celia live streaming her trip to the hospital.The video has been viewed more than 4 million times.

As a mother,she spends a lot of time with her child,and thus has limited time to invest in social media.She cannot do much planning for her live stream,and seldom gives notice on upcoming broadcasts.Yet this does not affect her fans’ enthusiasm for her.She said proudly that every time she live streams,many people come to watch,share,and leave comments.

Live Streaming the Real China

When talking about which topic was most popular,she said:“This is very interesting.For some live streams,which I did not expect many views,I actually got quite a lot.”

“When I weaned my son,my husband accompanied me to a maternal and pediatric hospital.We went there by bus.This live stream got the highest views.I introduced my fans to the hospital system—how to register,buy medical records,and the medical treatment system.” Something so common got viewed over 4 million times.

Clearly,cultural differences are what attract many foreign fans.

Celia is familiar with the cultural differences between China and other countries,and it is easy for her to find the right topics to discuss and share.Showing the local breakfast and night market that Wuhan people are used to have become popular posts on her live broadcast.

Once,she went to a movie with her husband.It was one o’clock in the morning when the film was over.Walking in the open street,Celia suddenly felt like live streaming.Her husband was bewildered:“There’s nothing on the street now.What are you going to shoot?” Celia replied,“Nothing there is the right thing to shoot.” In fact,she knew that it was impossible for women to safely walk home in the middle of the night in many other countries.As she expected,right after she started the broadcast,her fans poured into the live room,their comments full of worries.They asked Celia,“Aren’t you afraid of your safety?”

As they passed by several designated drivers,Celia introduced China’s designated driving industry to her fans.Immediately,some fans commented:“If it were in our country,the designated driver would steal the car and kidnap the drunken driver.” China’s safety status quo stunned her fans.

These live streams—true and ordinary to the people living here in China—have changed the impressions on China of many foreign netizens and have made Celia a cultural bridge between China and foreign countries.(Photos courtesy of Celia Esquivel Salguero)

塞利娅一家三口。Celia with her husband and son.

由于大部分时间要照顾孩子，在社交媒体上能投入的时间有限，她的直播较少做计划，也很少发预告。这并没影响到粉丝们对她的热捧。她骄傲地说，每次直播都会有许多观众分享和评论。

分享真实

谈及什么话题最受欢迎时，她说：“这个很有意思，有时你觉得浏览量不会高的反而特别受欢迎。”

“给孩子断奶时，我老公陪我去妇幼看医生。我们坐公交去医院这一次，点击率最高。我给他们介绍医院，怎么挂号，买病历，看病的系统，这些事情。”一件很普通的事，浏览量竟然达到了400 万。

文化差异正是吸引众多外国粉丝之处。

塞利娅深谙中外文化差异，很容易找到直播看点，武汉人习以为常的“过早”“逛夜市”都是她直播中广受欢迎的帖子。

有一次，她与丈夫去看电影，散场时已是凌晨1 点。漫步在空旷的大街上，塞利娅突然来了直播的念头，丈夫很好奇：“现在街上什么都没有，直播什么？”塞利娅回答：“正是因为什么都没有，所以才直播。”其实她心里清楚，半夜这样潇洒地走回家，在很多国家是不可能的。果然，直播开始后观众们陆续涌入直播间，评论里全是担心的声音，粉丝们纷纷问塞利娅：“你不怕吗？”

路过几位代驾时，塞利娅向粉丝们介绍中国的代驾行业，马上有粉丝评论说：“在我们国家（代驾）会直接把车开走，把人绑架了。”中国社会的安全感令粉丝们大为惊讶。

就是这样一段一段平凡而真实的生活直播，改变了许多外国网友对中国的看法，也让塞利娅成为了沟通中外的桥梁。

（图片由塞利娅提供）

塞利娅将自己的直播和拉美粉丝的留言翻译成中文，在自己的抖音账号上分享。Celia translates her live stream and interactions with her fans into Chinese,and shares them on her Douyin account.