1 . Liu Yexi has taken Douyin by storm. As of Nov 17, the virtual idol, who performed on the social media platform on Oct 31, had only released two short videos but attracted over 5 million followers.

Different from other virtual idols, Liu is defined as a “virtual beauty vlogger”. In her first video, Liu is doing makeup with an eye brush while dressed in a traditional Chinese costume.

When she turns around, the onlookers are terrified, except one boy. Then Liu slightly brushes the boy’s eyes, allowing him to see the fantasy world in her own eyes. The internet users marveled(使...惊叹) at its storyline, science-fiction elements and special visual effects with cyberpunk style. Liang Zikang, the CEO of the production team, told China Newsweek that the team spent two months making the video.

Liu’s instant popularity online further reflects that the virtual idol industry in China has been booming. There are over 32,400 virtual idols that have opened accounts on video-sharing platform Bilibili in the past year, seeing a year-on-year rise of 40 percent, Chen Rui, the CEO of Bilibili, said in a speech.

“Compared with real idols and stars, the virtual ones seem to be more approachable for fans,” Shine News noted. Additionally, these virtual web celebrities(名人) won’t have scandals(丑闻).

As more young people are fascinated by these virtual figures, their commercial(商业的) value has been on the rise. Generally, they earn money by online concerts, livestreaming and related products. For example, Luo Tianyi, a well-known virtual singer, cooperated with livestreamer Li Jiaqi to promote goods in 2020.

Therefore, some people are wondering whether they will replace real humans. “These socalled virtual idols have real human teams to back them up and control them. They are not really virtual.” Ding Daoshi, an independent analyst in the internet sector, told the Global Times. The real virtual idol will come when artificial intelligence achieves a new level of selflearning and self-training and then interacts with others, he added.