Africa-Press – Gambia. These videos used to be for birthdays, but Shanghai has repurposed them as morale-boosting messages and a way to vent their lockdown frustration
The sudden demand from Shanghai has left video makers struggling to keep up; some are producing up to 200 videos a day to meet demandResidents trapped by Shanghai’s weeks-long coronavirus lockdown are joining a new trend of hiring online agents to create tailor-made videos of dancing African actors offering well-wishes and uplifting messages to their neighbours locked down in the same compound.
Most of the city’s 25 million residents are still under a strict lockdown. Some have been quarantined at home for more than a month.
In the past week, a new fad where people pay to receive video well-wishes has become popular among residents. The videos feature foreigners — most of whom are Africans — sending messages in “poor Chinese” while performing simple dances and saying they hope that Shanghai’s lockdown will end soon and residents’ lives will return to normal.
Many of the videos feature African men, who are often topless and show off their muscles by flexing, as well as children, while some feature Caucasian women, believed to be from Russia or Ukraine.The dancers in the videos hold up a blackboard with Chinese characters for specific residential complexes’ names and messages of support. The actors will follow a Chinese man who reads the blessing messages aloud in Mandarin.
It costs dozens of yuan to make a video that lasts for around 30 seconds. The foreign actors will also sing or dance if the customers pay an extra fee of 100 to 200 yuan (US$15.70 to $31.40).Some African men are seen holding guns in the videos, posing like mercenary soldiers. Others are dressed in the traditional clothing of various regions of Africa.
Video clips of blessings from foreigners targeting Chinese customers have been increasingly popular on the mainland in recent years. The videos are produced by overseas-based Chinese agents who promote their products on social media apps like Douyin and WeChat directly to Chinese consumers.Mainland customers favour these videos as they are seen as exotic and amusing. The short video clips are often widely shared on social media, where many in China dedicate significant time and energy to following new trends and trying to emulate them.
In the past, these videos were ordered for birthdays. Recently Shanghai’s residents have found a new use for the videos, creating tailor-made messages as a way to boost their morale and vent their frustrations about lockdown life.
“We desperately need comfort and encouragement,” wrote a user at Douyin.The sudden surge in demand from Shanghai has left some overseas video message agents struggling to keep up with orders. Some have been working on up to 200 videos a day, agents have said on WeChat.
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