Liu Yexi has released her first video on Douyin. BY GONG QIAN / TEENS
Liu Yexi has taken Douyin by storm. As of Nov 17, the virtual idol, who debuted on the social media platform on Oct 31, had only released two short videos but attracted over 5 million followers.
柳夜熙已经席卷抖音。虚拟偶像柳夜熙于10月31日在社交媒体平台上首次亮相，截至11月17日，她只发布了两个短视频，却吸引了500多万粉丝。
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.
与其他虚拟偶像不同的是，柳夜熙的定位为“虚拟美妆博主”。在柳夜熙的首个视频里，她身穿中国传统服装，手持眼刷，正在化妆。当她转过身来，周围的人都吓坏了，唯有一小男孩不怕。随后柳夜熙轻轻扫了扫男孩的眼睛，让他看到了自己眼中的奇幻世界。
The internet users marveled 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.
网友们惊叹于视频的故事情节、科幻元素以及赛博朋克风格的特殊视觉效果。制作团队的首席执行官梁子康在接受《中国新闻周刊》采访时表示，团队花了两个月的时间制作这支视频。
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.
柳夜熙在网上的迅速走红进一步反映了虚拟偶像产业正在中国蓬勃发展。哔哩哔哩首席执行官陈睿在一次演讲中表示，去年在视频共享平台哔哩哔哩上共有超过3.24万的虚拟偶像开播，同比增长40%。
“Compared with real idols and stars, the virtual ones seem to be more approachable for fans,” Shine News noted. Additionally, these virtual web celebrities won’t have scandals.
Shine新闻指出:“与真正的偶像和明星相比，虚拟偶像对粉丝来说似乎更容易接近。”此外，这些虚拟网络名人不会有丑闻。
As more young people are fascinated by these virtual figures, their commercial value has been on the rise. Generally, they earn money by endorsements, 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.
随着越来越多的年轻人为这些虚拟人物所吸引，虚拟偶像的商业价值也在上升。虚拟名人一般通过代言、线上演唱会、直播和周边产品赚钱。例如，知名虚拟歌手洛天依曾在2020年与主播李佳琦合作推广商品。
Therefore, some people are wondering whether they will replace real humans. “These so-called 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 self-learning and self-training and then interacts with others, he added.
因此，有些人好奇虚拟偶像是否会取代真人。互联网行业独立分析师丁道师在接受《环球时报》采访时表示：“这些所谓的虚拟偶像背后有真人团队在运作和控制，并不是真的虚拟。”丁道师补充说，如果人工智能达到一个全新水平，能够自我学习、自我训练，而且能够与他人互动，那么真正的虚拟偶像就会出现。
