iShowSpeed livestreams show world an unfiltered China
When Darren Watkins Jr, the 22-year-old US internet celebrity better known to his 37 million YouTube followers and those on other platforms as iShowSpeed, embarked on a marathon livestreaming tour across China, broadcasting for six uninterrupted hours on the first day alone, he vaporized the meticulously constructed "China threat theory" peddled by some in the West.
His lens revealed a nation so starkly divergent from typical Western caricatures that it made many viewers confront the uncomfortable truth that their perception of China had been systematically distorted.
What unfolded before his camera was a wonderland of 21st-century infrastructure. As his bullet train plunged into mountain tunnels, Western viewers gasped to see his livestream continue flawlessly, as China's ubiquitous 5G covers even the most remote transit routes. This technological seamlessness extended to daily commerce: at street vendors, subway turnstiles, and rural bus stops alike, a single QR code scan from his Alipay app completed transactions instantly, constructing a cashless ecosystem.
