Amy Lyons
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[edit]
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[edit]
- 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[edit]
- ^ 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[edit]
- 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.