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Ugandan-born vlogger wins millions of followers recording China’s rural life
Hangzhou, China | THE INDEPENDENT & XINHUA | China based star vlogger Rose Mary Adikin will be in Uganda this week for a month long visit. She has in the past week been posting on her expected first full family visit to her home in Tororo, Uganda. She is travelling with her son Anzai, Chinese husband Wu Jianyun and will be joined by a TV crew.
Her social media videos recording her daily life have become a hit on the internet, where she is heard speaking fluent Chinese and cooking authentic Chinese dishes. Adikin now has a five-person team for the filming and making short videos at their home in Yecun Village of Suichang County, Lishui City in east China’s Zhejiang Province.
Adikin started vlogging on Chinese social media platforms Douyin (Chinese TikTok) and XiaoHongShu (Chinese Instagram) and by 2021 had up to 13 million followers, making her among the most followed non-Chinese influencers and most followed African influencer on both platforms. Adikin then expanded her online presence by posting her vlogs on TikTok, Youtube and Facebook.
Between January to February 2023, Adikin’s Youtube subscribers shot from 12,000 to 136,000 subscribers earning her the Silver Play Button for surpassing 100,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel. She is currently at 270,000 subscribers.
She is now also among the top 100 Ugandan YouTubers, that has in the lead, the likes of Eddy Kenzo and Masaka Kids Afrikana with over one million subscribers.
Adikin, 29, was born and grew up in the countryside in Uganda. Eight years ago, she contacted a Chinese man, Wu Jianyun, online after Wu’s cousin, who was working in Uganda, introduced them.
Adikin emigrated to China in 2014 . After getting along for a while, she made a courageous decision – to travel to China. Adikin and Wu fell in love and decided to marry and set up a family in Wu’s hometown Yecun Village in April 23, 2015.
Adikin’s videos are mainly about her cooking for her husband and son. She often shows the whole cooking process, from the field to the table. In her videos, she interacts with her family and neighbors amiably in Mandarin with a local Suichang accent.
Adikin picked up her culinary skills through her husband and his two brothers who had reportedly worked as chefs in the past.
Adikin vlogs daily. Rose’s videos are directly taken and reposted from her Chinese accounts but with translated English subtitles.
In June , Adikin was featured in Lishui “Two Mountains” Practice Achievement Promotion Week, which celebrates the efforts of local food and agricultural content creators.
In recent years, in line with China’s rural vitalization strategy, the city of Lishui has been developing countryside tourism and rural industries to help farmers improve their livelihood.
Adikin, who hails from Alindagwe in Nagongera, is satisfied with her life and hopeful for the future.
“This is my ideal way of living — the family staying together and our son growing up healthy and happy,” she said. ■
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