Behind Hebei Pangzai: the Chinese stunt drinker turned Twitter star is an introvert, family man and aspiring chef
- Liu Shichao, known as Hebei Pangzai, won over Twitter with videos of himself chugging six beers in under a minute and smashing bricks with his bare hands.
- How did a man from rural China break through the Great Firewall to become a global internet sensation?
A few months ago, I noticed that a portly Chinese man in shades kept popping up on my Twitter feed.
Everyone seemed to be sharing his videos, where he chugs beer and other liquor in minutes with macho bravado. In the first video I saw, he was downing an unholy mix of beer, Pepsi, a high-alcohol spirit called baijiu and a raw egg in less than a minute.
He goes by the name Hebei Pangzai, which roughly translates to “Hebei fat guy”. Despite joining Twitter only in August 2019, he has more than 100,000 followers. His tweets have a cute, wholesome quality to them.
Fans endearingly call him “The King”.
His real name is Liu Shichao. He is 33 years old and lives with his wife and son in Xingtai, a small city in northern China with the ignominious distinction of having some of the worst air quality in the country.
I ask if we can interview him at his home in rural Hebei, and we make arrangements to meet at a train station near his house.
