Illustration: Peter C. Espina/GT

 Who is Papi Jiang? She is an online megastar now boasting over 11 million followers on Sina Weibo, a Chinese microblogging website akin to a hybrid of Twitter and Facebook. She made her online debut in 2015, but has rocketed to fame in recent months, with her series of homemade comedic videos mocking everyday situations. Papi Jiang's celebrity is self-mocking: the vlogger always concludes her monologues with "I'm Papi Jiang, a woman who combines beauty and talent." In a speeded-up voice she launched diatribes about rich housewives flaunting their husbands' wealth, crazy fans and nagging relatives. Her videos can be irreverent, and occasionally profane.

But recently, China's media watchdog, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, ordered some of her videos that contain "foul language and vulgar" content offline, demanding the Internet celebrity to remove them before the videos could go back online.

The rectification order sparked mixed reactions. Some agreed that Papi Jiang's use of curse words like "fuck" and "little whore" in some of her videos does exert a negative influence on minors, while others argued against the order, saying it would stifle creativeness in a supposedly diverse society and discourage the development of online comedy as a business model. In March, Papi Jiang was offered 12 million yuan ($1.84 million) in investment.

Despite huge popularity of Papi Jiang's hilarious yet critical videos, there have been previous concerns over her vulgarity. She has cursed about 60 times altogether in her videos. Coarse language might have been used to grab attention before she rose to fame, but even some of the public wonder whether Papi Jiang should still resort to it.

The 29-year-old woman is now believed to be the most prominent Internet celebrity of 2016. The success of her sets an example for online celebrities, inspiring many young people. Beyond online celebrity, she has become a public figure that has to take some social responsibilities. If a public figure published an expletive-laden post on a social media account, he or she would be overwhelmed by criticism.  

On Monday, Papi Jiang published a statement on her Weibo account responding to the rectification order, claiming she would pay more attention to her language and image, and would resolutely make amendments to her videos according to requests. Some were suspicious about whether she could keep the quality of her work up. They argued just as that the appeal of Quentin Tarantino's films would be less without violence and profanity, Papi Jiang's videos will become just another bland after satisfying authorities' demands.

But Tarantino's films are produced under a rating system. Given the lack of such a system in China, Chinese creators have to be self-disciplined and bear in mind their responsibilities.

Using coarse language is not indispensable. Papi Jiang's popularity stems from her talent, humor and sensitivity to hot issues. She talks about topics that could easily strike a chord with netizens. If she is really "a woman who combines beauty and talent," we expect her to withstand the challenge and continue to make us laugh using her talent to seek a balance between catering to viewers and complying with the rules imposed by the authorities.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. yujincui@globaltimes.com.cn