Young Chinese fake to be rich by self-branding on social media.
By Celina Lu
Posing as an elegant lady leading a luxurious lifestyle, online content creator Xiao Shu has a taste of living like a princess for one day – an experience of a lifetime by hiring a team of make-up artists and photographers to do a photo shoot in fancy places, albeit wearing a counterfeit designer dress and carrying a fake luxury handbag.
The service package covers photo taking at a Michelin restaurant called Yihenyue by Seven Villas, an infinity swimming pool, a golf course, and Conrad Hangzhou.
Xiao filmed the whole experience and made a video which was then shared on her own social media accounts on various popular social media platforms in China, including TikTok, Xiaohongshu (the Little Red Book), and Bilibili.
“I want to start an online business by creating video content myself. I wrote a story about boys taking pictures of luxurious lifestyles for social media posts when I worked for GQ magazine. I find faking to be rich is an interesting topic, so I tried it myself and made a record of it,” the 28-year-old woman says.
Xiao spent RMB ¥2,488 (US $349.37) for a 12-hour shooting session and she was guaranteed to have nine photos finished.
“I’m not used to wearing gorgeous clothes and posing for photos for hours. The experience made me feel that I was pretty and happy at that moment. I also felt a little bit awkward, as I was not used to that,” Xiao adds.
The video about the experience earned her 22,000 likes on Xiaohongshu, 432,000 likes on TikTok, and 2,242 likes on Bilibili.
Out of curiosity, fund investigator Zhou Qian also signed up for a service package like Xiao. She had her first photo taking session at the Guangzhou Elegant Hotel. She posted the photos she took on Xiaohongshu.
“I have seen videos of other girls doing this on TikTok before, and then I wondered what it was like. I gave it a try on my 28th birthday in a five-star hotel,” Zhou says.
“I booked the photo shoot two weeks earlier and paid RMB ¥400 (US $56.18) for a 30-minute photo session. Costumes were provided and I had to do my own make-up,” she says.
“The service also includes providing a fake Louis Vuitton bag. The photographer took pictures of me with my mobile phone and told me to pose in various ways. But I actually didn’t feel right because I was faking to be rich,” the 28-year-old woman says.
“After half an hour, another customer came. There were about at least 20 girls waiting to take pictures that day,” Zhou shares.
“Young girls find it appealing to pretend to be rich elites. Many are willing to spend money to fake it for a day. After all, who doesn’t want to become rich and smart,” she adds.
Advertisements about the “Fake Socialite” photo service can be found on various social media platforms offering the service charging from RMB ¥400 (US $55.24) to RMB ¥2,500 (US $345.22).
Lucky King is one of the studios posting messages about such “Fake Socialite” photo service in Xiaohongshu.
It charges RMB ¥1,188 (US $166.90) for an hour of photo session at a five-star hotel the Bvlgari Shanghai and RMB 1,088 (US $152.85) per hour at the Banyan Tree Shanghai.
95 per cent of their customers are girls and five per cent are boys. They are mostly between 20-35 years old, according to the studio.
“In recent years, senior cadre style or gentle style photography have become increasingly popular on TikTok. Most of the girls who purchased the service are to get a nice set of photos for their birthday and want to maximise the value for the money they can afford to spend,” a staff of the studio says.
Assistant Professor Lin Jian from the School of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese University of Hong Kong points out that photo services of such kind are popular among internet celebrities.
“Some internet celebrities want to create an illusion that they live a luxurious life to impress their fans. Some want to make use of the service to create content for their social media accounts,” Lin says.
“Internet celebrities want to make use of this to boost their fame and number of followers. They might profit from the fame they build in the future. Private companies might approach them to advertise some products or run live online sales,” Lin comments.
Lin also points out that some young people are yearning for a celebrity lifestyle and want to get a taste of it.
“Consumer culture is an important part of contemporary youth culture in China. This kind of photography service is also a kind of consumption behavior. They can have a taste of being at five-star restaurants and hotels,” he says.
“Consumption has actually become a solution for dealing with stress and the urge to be successful. A solution to the fact that it’s hard to find ways to turn us into a so-called ‘successful’ person,” Lin adds.
Edited by Cynthia Chan
Sub-edited by Carrie Lock
