Fan Zhei, a young woman of Pakistani descent adopted by a Chinese couple when they came to work in the country, is attracting attention for the contrast between her foreign looks and Chinese accent.
Fan, 20, has 750,000 followers on Chinese social website Douyin, and her videos are going viral.
How was she adopted?
She was found abandoned in a cardboard box on the street in Pakistan by her adoptive parents when they were working in the country, according to South China Morning Post.
The couple brought her back to their hometown in a rural area of central China’s Henan province, and called her Fan Zihe, an auspicious name meaning “vigorous and long-lived”. She remains their only child.
Fan attracting attention due to her complexion
Fan first attracted attention on social media in 2021, when she posted a video of herself eating traditional Henan noodles while squatting in front of her house.
The contrast between her appearance and her native Henan dialect piqued the curiosity of many.
Fan’s content on social media includes activities of rural life– farming, eating noodles and asking for lucky money from the elderly members of the family.
Fan said her parents have always treated her as though she is their biological daughter and defended her whenever people said she looked different. She was nicknamed “little black girl”.
“Our daughter’s dark skin is beautiful and healthy,” they said.
Fan identifies as Chinese. She expresses gratitude to her parents for adopting her.
“People say loving a person is like growing a flower. I think the best gardeners are my parents,” Fan said.
She said she wants to buy them a flat in the city to repay them. She earns 4,000 yuan (US$550) a month from her Douyin account, more than Chinese farmers’ average salary, which was 1,678 yuan a month in 2022.
