On 31 October, a virtual ghost hunter landed on Douyin (China’s version of TikTok) and immediately gained over 1.5 million followers overnight.
This female hunter made her debut on the platform through a 2-minute video, where she was featured as a young lady dressed in a Chinese costume. At the time of writing, this short-form video had already received over 2.34 million likes and brought the new account 1.95 million subscribers.
This video served as a prelude to the virtual character’s story. It began with a beautiful lady applying makeup on the street at night, and people around were somehow afraid to get close.
A boy, brave enough, stepped up to her cautiously and started a conversation. As the story evolved, the lady’s identity began to reveal – her bones are luminous, and she has a peculiar paintbrush that enables people to see ghosts and seize them into a gadget; she is a ghost hunter. When the story started to capture people’s imaginations, the video ended with the hunter saying, “my name is Liu Yexi”.
This new virtual character is a successful hit in the Chinese market. For the first time, a story unfolds around a virtual character designed with Chinese aesthetics – traditional hairstyle and costume, rather than golden hair and a daring dress style.
The hunter’s image perfectly matches the guochao trend in China, where local brands and this popular design style are gaining popularity.
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