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Beijing101

Sexy User Generated Propaganda Hero for China

By thomascrampton ⋅ April 27, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

LeiFungTorchBearerLei Feng, icon of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, please meet Second Right Brother, your Web 2.0 counterpart.

Lei Feng was a selfless and modest soldier devoted to Chairman Mao who was killed by a truck backing up. Created by Mao’s government the old fashioned way - fiat of the propaganda department - Lei Feng was intended to inspire the nation as it recovered from the failures of the Great Leap Forward.

Second Right Brother (the only name we know him by) is a member of the torch security detail who for many Chinese (women) has come to embody a new handsome hero standing up to protect China’s pride. Second right refers to his position in the security detail.

His true identity remains a mystery and Chinese Internet users, many of them women, simply refer to him as You Er GeGe or 右二哥哥, literally translated as Second Right Brother.

But Second Right Brother’s good works have not gone unnoticed by obsessive sites showing his photograph, sharing stories about him and even proposing marriage.

Once this Olympic torch relay is over, Second Right Brother may find a second career in the sphere of capitalist propaganda, aka sponsorship.

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Beijing101, China, Olympics

Discussion

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Comments for “Sexy User Generated Propaganda Hero for China”

  • Lei Feng Long Live For Chinese
    Lei Feng inspired our entire Chinese (Mainland) nation in his special decades, for his spirit, while u will never understand how much a nation eaging for the bright future after suffering by ur west invasion more then one century. Chinese stand up after Mao's lead, and then will stand up for the rest centuries.
  • Lynx
    Firstly, your blog's sub-title is misleading. "China, Internet and new media seen from Asia"? I think a more appropriate one would be "An extremely biased view of China and Asia as seen by Thomas Crampton", because anti-China/Asia sentiment colours just about every entry here.
    I expected a more neutral, objective tone, as befitting the blog's subtitle, and letting personal predjudices and bias leak into your writing is very unprofessional.

    Secondly, 'user generated propaganda' is an oxymoron. The Chinese government did not manufacture this phenomenon, it was born 'organically', akin to how celebrities cause fansites to spring up, and spawning legions of adoring fans. Propaganda, on the other hand is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions. There's nothing deliberate or systematic about this.
  • Sleepless Night Cat ( 睡睡弃寐)
    I totally disagree with your opinion - Your claim of "Propaganda" has no foundation. U2GG fame was not propagated by any government, organization, group, parties, or propaganda department as you may have thought.

    What attracted us Chinese girls is his serious working attitude. After all his job is to protect the Olympic torch from all those who try to cause trouble.

    Indeed we respect him for doing a good job! No doubt he is a hero to us. I don't see what's wrong with a simple hero worshiping. This is not to deny that his attractive smiles, his handsome face plus his sexy body do help to attract much attentions and adoration.

    It's just like the Americans who made Heroes out of all those soldiers who saved "Private Ryan", and glorified those who participated in the Vietnam war, etc. If I was to follow your logic, I could also argue that Hollywood is actually a "propaganda department" engaged by the government of the USA, couldn't I?
  • Yoyo
    It's interesting to revisit and read my prev comments, which seems a bit out of contexts. I remember there were used to be some postings arguing 右二哥哥 is not masculine or handsome enough from Caucasian perspective. He attracts people not only by his diverse but all good looks, but by every aspect he has demonstrated (via photo/video) from inside and out.
  • Other guards have their fans too.
  • Forgot the URL. His fans are of different ages, both female and male.
  • yoyo
    He has touched our heart by his smile - the corners of his lips are always up ! He has thick hair but short hair-cut (many Caucasian soldiers even shave their heads right?). He's almost 6', and his gong fu is much more powerful than the big muscles. Unlike most Caucasians, his weight is definitely not on his watching list. Don't judge other people's tastes by yours - the world's beauty standard will be asianized soon.
  • Funny, but I really have no idea why you say that "Lei Feng, icon of Mao’s Cultural Revolution" =)
  • thomascrampton
    Thanks Stefan! Updated to correct spelling. Silly mistake.
  • interesting stuff, Thomas. But please, it's Lei FENG, not Fung...
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Thomas Crampton was a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times for more than a decade, reporting from five continents, writing a column on Asia and covering Asian politics, economics and culture. Currently based in Hong Kong, he writes here about China, the Internet and New Media seen from Asia, while also advising companies on digital communication strategies. For more information click here...