BEIJING — From his kitchen in Beijing, Yu Bo is running a campaign to connect China with America — one slapstick cooking video at a time.
At a time when tensions between Washington and Beijing are high, it might seem like the odds are against him.
Yu, 37, is keeping his day job directing commercial videos. But since January he has spun up an alter-ego as an ambassador for speedy Chinese cooking in short English-language videos posted to RedNote, a social media app and go-to search engine.
He now has 136,000 followers, including thousands in the United States, many of whom send him daily messages and questions about Chinese food and life in China that keep him up late at night.
“All kinds of English messages, so every night I’m improving my English just to be able to communicate better with them,” he said.
When more than half a million Americans downloaded RedNote earlier this year, days before a proposed US ban on the popular Chinese social media app TikTok, Yu saw an opportunity to turn his small kitchen into a studio.
Now, with a Saturday (April 5) deadline set by the Trump administration for TikTok to find a buyer, Yu’s side hustle could be set for more change.
His online persona mixes the dramatic flourishes of Turkish restaurateur Salt Bae with self-deprecating humour, a wide-eyed look into the camera and an evolving series of heavily accented catchphrases. “So easy!” is a favourite. Another, as he fires up his gas cooker: “Open the fire!”
A fan of rapper Eminem, whose off-camera bookshelf includes Ayn Rand and David Foster Wallace, Yu was worried at first about how his limited spoken English would travel.
“I was a little scared because I thought, will everyone think I’m bad? Will everyone treat me like a joker? But later I found they love me.”
When Yu used five eggs in one dish, an American follower asked if he was rich. “How expensive are eggs in America?” When another asked how to grow rice, he advised against trying.
One single mother told him her daughter with ADHD found his videos soothing. He sent her a private message in which he baked a cake for the girl. “I was just so touched,” he said.
RedNote is sometimes described as China’s answer to Instagram. Its Chinese name Xiaohongshu translates to “Little Red Book” in English, a phrase that traditionally refers to a collection of sayings by Mao Zedong.
Privately owned RedNote, valued at US$17 billion (S$22.9 billion) in its latest funding round, has probably benefited from the surge of attention whatever happens next for TikTok, said Yaling Jiang, founder of consultancy ApertureChina.
“Global investors, global users know them. They know the potential and how it is different from other Chinese apps,” she said.
Washington officials have said TikTok’s ownership by ByteDance makes it beholden to the Chinese government.
For now, Yu continues to cook and post. He started a stir-fry lesson this week by throwing a green pepper at the viewer. Off camera, his sphynx cat and a kitten were watching. The kitten was born when Yu’s channel took off. He named it Xiaohongshu.
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