Fame has traditionally been the result of constant, deliberate and sometimes even painful effort, but now people are often just one video or post away from becoming a celebrity. For 40-something Chinese farmer Liu Tao, his life has been totally changed with a sudden fame.
In August 2021, Liu, from Yangshuo County in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, shared a video on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, where he said, “It is said that Guilin’s scenery is the best under Heaven, yet Yangshuo’s scenery is the best in Guilin…” in both Chinese and English.
At the end of his video, he thanked his audience, pronouncing “thank you” with an accent that rendered it as something close to “shank q.” His novel pronunciation was so infectious that it prompted netizens to share and imitate the “shank q,” with the 30-second video clip
