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Thai K-pop fans flock to Chinese social media for news on their idol
Published: Jan 09, 2020 02:28 AM

Blackpink’s member Lisa Photo: iQIYI’s reality show Youth With You official Sina Weibo account

Photo: Screenshot of a Thai netizen’s Weibo post


K-pop girl band Blackpink's Lisa took a trip to China on Monday for the filming of Chinese streaming site iQIYI's reality show Youth With You Season Two in Guangzhou, capital city of South China's Guangdong Province.

To get more information on their idol, some of Lisa's Thai fans registered accounts on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo and actively promoted their idol on the site.

These newcomers were spotted when they posted on Weibo in Thai in Chaohua, a superior hashtag that allows netizens with the same interest in one topic to share information.

Razey (pseudonym), a 33-year-old Thai office worker who wants to remain anonymous, told the Global Times that four friends of hers became Weibo users because Lisa is in China and Weibo is the most instant source of news on her.

Having registered a Sina Weibo account when she was studying in China many years ago, Razey is very fluent in Chinese and sometimes helps translate information about Lisa between Thai and Chinese.

"Actually, Lisa's Thai fans haven't mastered the skills to use Weibo very well. They show up in Chaohua because they believe they can get the most news about Lisa there.

"A lot of Thai fans are active in Chaohua also because they want to console Chinese fans who might feel sad for not managing to see Lisa in person when she walked the VIP corridor on Monday night at Guangzhou airport," Razey explained.

According to Razey, Thai fans use the international version of Sina Weibo, the operational language of which is English. When they have trouble understanding Chinese on Weibo, Google translation can help.

They can also get updates on Lisa from some Twitter accounts that tweet translated information from Sina Weibo.