{"id":248657,"date":"2022-11-17T13:11:23","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T18:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/?p=248657"},"modified":"2022-12-08T10:10:26","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T15:10:26","slug":"posing-like-american-farmers-is-the-latest-trend-among-chinese-influencers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/2022\/11\/17\/posing-like-american-farmers-is-the-latest-trend-among-chinese-influencers\/","title":{"rendered":"Posing like American farmers is the latest trend among Chinese influencers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"[The China Project] Posing like American farmers is the latest trend among Chinese influencers\" src=\"https:\/\/art19.com\/shows\/china-stories\/episodes\/12e33577-7887-492f-a9bf-18145c891c79\/embed#?secret=q4pIdFxc5R\" data-secret=\"q4pIdFxc5R\" width=\"500\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A woman wearing denim overalls sits on a straw bale against the backdrop of a wall of hay; two girls lean against a wood fence on a seemingly boundless grassland; a man in a full-out cowboy outfit poses with a horse standing behind him.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"mailchimp-shortcode\"><div class=\"mailchimp-shortcode--inner\"><h2 class=\"h2\">China news, weekly.<\/h2><p>Sign up for The China Project&#8217;s weekly newsletter, our free roundup of the most important China stories.<\/p>\n<form method=\"post\" id=\"mc-embedded-subscribe-form\" name=\"mc-embedded-subscribe-form\" class=\"validate js-landing-page-form js-subscribe-form\" target=\"_blank\" novalidate>\n        <div class=\"newsletter-hero__email-wrap\">\n            <label for=\"spch-email\" class=\"screen-reader-text\">Enter your email address<\/label>\n            <input class=\"multinews__input multinews__input--email\" id=\"spch-email\" aria-describedby=\"spch-fineprint\" type=\"email\" placeholder=\"Enter your email address\" name=\"email\" required><!-- inline-block fix-->\n            <button class=\"multinews__submit btn prime js-subscribe-form-submit\" id=\"js-multinews-submit\">\n                <t>Subscribe<\/t>\n            <\/button>\n            <div id=\"spch-fineprint\" class=\"multinews__fineprint\">\n\t\t\t\t<p>By subscribing you agree to our <a href=\"\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\">privacy policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n        <\/div><!-- .newsletter-hero__email-wrap -->\n        <div style=\"position: absolute; left: -5000px;\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"\" tabindex=\"-1\" value=\"\"><\/div>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"newsletter\" value=\"chinaweekly\">\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"tcpr_subscribe_form_nonce\" value=\"07aa6ca7cb\">\n    <\/form><\/div><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At first glance, one might think these photos posted on Xiaohongshu, a lifestyle and ecommerce app often referred to as China\u2019s Instagram, are taken in the American Wild West. But these images are actually from various locations across China, where pretending to be on an American farm or ranch has become the latest aesthetic that has taken Chinese influencers by storm.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>What is \u201cAmerican farm style\u201d?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the past few months, an aesthetic known as \u201cAmerican farm style\u201d has been embraced by scores of good-looking, impeccably dressed Chinese men and women. On Xiaohongshu, there thousands of posts bearing the hashtag \u201cAmerican farm style\u201d (#\u7f8e\u56fd\u519c\u573a\u98ce# m\u011bigu\u00f3 n\u00f3ngch\u01ceng f\u0113ng), in which props depicting a typical American farmer\u2019s life in the fall \u2014 such as piles of hay, farm animals, and seasonal crops like pumpkins \u2014 are frequently seen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThere\u2019s a new stunning Instagrammable spot in the city that gives American farm vibes. It has a classic retro color palette and you can make photos taken here look like fashion editorials,\u201d reads the recommendation of a community garden in Chengdu.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-248659 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/farm-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1788\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/farm-2.jpg 1788w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/farm-2-500x336.jpg 500w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/farm-2-1200x805.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/farm-2-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/farm-2-1536x1031.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1788px) 100vw, 1788px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In another post about a boutique hotel on the outskirts of Beijing, a Xiaohongshu user gives it a positive review for providing \u201cthe picture-perfect backdrop\u201d for visitors who want to participate in the trend. \u201cIt really has a chestnut plantation and some fruit trees!\u201d reads the post, which includes a photo of the creator standing next to a billboard that says \u201cOrganic family farm.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps the most popular destination is a coffee shop named Day Off Dreamer in urban Beijing, which is famous for routinely changing its d\u00e9cor depending on the season. In September, the business settled on the \u201cAmerican farm style\u201d theme and staged its space like the interior of a rustic barn with farm wagons and hay beds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-248660 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/farm-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1802\" height=\"1198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/farm-3.jpg 1802w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/farm-3-500x332.jpg 500w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/farm-3-1200x798.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/farm-3-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/farm-3-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1802px) 100vw, 1802px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Xiaohongshu, most influencers embodying the aesthetic are upfront about the fact that they are not actually in the U.S. and that the objects seen in their photos are mostly staged setups. \u201cPretending to be an American country girl is a ton of fun. I feel like I\u2019m in a Western movie,\u201d one person wrote in a post.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>A flattering version of \u201cAmericore\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Romanticizing various aspects of quintessential American life and presenting them in an aesthetically pleasing way appears to be a common theme in content created by Chinese influencers since the coronavirus pandemic started. Due to China\u2019s stringent and unrelenting COVID-19 border restrictions, which have only started to show signs of relaxation recently, many Chinese people have been unable to travel abroad. For influencers, recreating foreign scenes appears to be their way to cash in on the longing for international tourism while it\u2019s restricted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-248661 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/costco.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1614\" height=\"1072\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/costco.jpg 1614w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/costco-500x332.jpg 500w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/costco-1200x797.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/costco-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/costco-1536x1020.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1614px) 100vw, 1614px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last year, a Shanghai location of American wholesale retailer Costco <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/10\/29\/china\/chinese-influencers-costco-mic-intl-hnk\/index.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">became a trendy spot<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as influencers flocked to the store, posting shots from its sprawling parking lot, making props out of its oversized merchandise, and embellishing their photos with pizza boxes and blue soda cups. Some of these snaps taken in front of the supermarket are captioned \u201cpretending to be in Los Angeles,\u201d or \u201cback to the west coast.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In May, influencers wearing ensembles that look straight out of American teen drama series like <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gossip Girl <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/3advy8\/chinese-influencers-take-over-ikea-by-posing-as-american-teens-in-front-of-their-lockers\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">flooded IKEA stores across the country<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. However, they were not there to shop for minimalist furniture. Instead, they used blue lockers in storage sections as the background for photos cosplaying &#8220;American high school style,\u201d known as m\u011big\u0101of\u0113ng \u7f8e\u9ad8\u98ce in Chinese.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-248662 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ikea.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1520\" height=\"1012\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ikea.jpg 1520w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ikea-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ikea-1200x799.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ikea-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1520px) 100vw, 1520px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The practice of utilizing everyday objects representing American culture and making them look \u201ccute\u201d is not a new concept on social media, nor was it invented by Chinese influencers. On Tiktok, such videos \u2014 often posted with the hahstag <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/americacore?lang=en&amp;is_copy_url=1&amp;is_from_webapp=v1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#Americore<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014\u00a0 have been around for several years and have racked up millions of views. While the aesthetic is mostly used on TikTok to \u201csubvert the way white influencers fetishize snack items in Asian grocery stores,\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nylon.com\/life\/tiktok-americore-trend-east-asian-fetishization\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">according to Nylon<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it\u2019s less critical and more flattering when used by Chinese influencers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their glamorization of the American lifestyle, however, is not immune from criticism. On the Chinese internet, some people have accused the trend of blindly worshiping Western culture, a subject that\u2019s especially touchy in China. \u201cThe goat house attached to my grandma\u2019s home in the countryside looks just like this. What\u2019s special about it?\u201d a Xiaohongshu user <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/xhslink.com\/Yjf4gl\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">commented<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on a post about the themed coffee shop in Beijing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-248663 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_5262.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_5262.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_5262-500x500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_5262-1200x1200.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_5262-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_5262-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The \u201cAmerican farm style\u201d photos by Chinese influencers seem to be well received on TikTok though. \u201cThey do Western aesthetic better than actual Western influencers, We gotta love it,\u201d one person <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/t\/ZTRQkkUvu\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">wrote<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in response to a TikTok video explaining the trend. \u201cI actually think it\u2019s cute. I\u2019ve been seeing a steady increase in other countries actually vibing with the American aesthetic and it\u2019s fun to see us be romanticized a bit,\u201d another commenter wrote.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After \u201cU.S. high schoolers\u201d and \u201cshopping in Los Angeles,\u201d pretending to be on an autumnal American farm is the latest \u201cAmericore\u201d aesthetic to take over Chinese social media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20030,"featured_media":248658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12908],"tags":[16915,14063,16651,15465,17045,14324,14328,15393],"column":[],"class":[],"coauthors":[18963],"acf":[],"la_post_categories":{"society-and-culture":"Society &amp; Culture"},"la_post_tags":{"chinese-social-media":"Chinese social media","fashion":"fashion","influencer":"influencer","influencers":"influencers","instagram":"Instagram","internet":"Internet","social-media":"social media","xiaohongshu":"xiaohongshu"},"content_writeup":{"rendered":"<p>\n\u201cAmerican farm style\u201d is China\u2019s latest internet influencer trend: On the Instagram-like Xiaohongshu, there are thousands of posts bearing the hashtag \u201cAmerican farm style\u201d (#\u7f8e\u56fd\u519c\u573a\u98ce# m\u011bigu\u00f3 n\u00f3ngch\u01ceng f\u0113ng), in which good-looking young Chinese people dress up in overalls and other American-style farmer clothes, and pose with piles of hay, farm animals, and seasonal crops like pumpkins.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nTo read more about this and other fads on Chinese social media that romanticize American life, <a href=\"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/2022\/11\/17\/posing-like-american-farmers-is-the-latest-trend-among-chinese-influencers\/\">please click through to The China Project<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n<em>More editor\u2019s picks from this week:<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Looking for something new to watch this weekend?<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/2022\/11\/14\/the-best-chinese-language-drama-series-with-english-subtitles-you-can-stream-right-now\/\">Here\u2019s a roundup<\/a> of the five best Mandarin-language drama series that came out this year and are currently on global streaming services.\n<li><strong>A nature-inspired arts center in Dali<\/strong>, a set of temples carved into cliff faces in Gansu, and a bridge next to a \u201cmonster\u201d apartment complex in Hong Kong <a href=\"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/2022\/11\/16\/these-pictures-of-chinese-buildings-might-win-the-architectural-photography-awards-for-2022\/\">are among the subjects of 23 images shortlisted<\/a> for this year\u2019s Architectural Photography Awards.\n<li><strong>The artistic worlds<\/strong> built by <a href=\"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/2022\/11\/15\/photographer-wei-huan-creates-alien-landscapes-for-fashion-magazines\/\">Guangzhou-based photographer W\u00e9i Hu\u0101n \u97cb\u6b22<\/a> for fashion editorials are full of humanoid characters inhabiting blinding, colorful alien landscapes.\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\n<em><a href=\"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/newsletters\/the-china-vibe\/\">Click here to subscribe to The China Vibe<\/a> to get a weekly snapshot of modern China. The newsletter goes out on Thursdays. <\/em><\/p>\n"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248657"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20030"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248657"},{"taxonomy":"column","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/column?post=248657"},{"taxonomy":"class","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/class?post=248657"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechinaproject.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=248657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}