From ‘Lipstick King’ Austin Li to Lie’er Baobei: the charitable Chinese live-stream influencers fighting Covid-19, poverty and empowering women

Oct 7 , 2020

Chinese KOLs who champion socially responsible causes; Austin Li, Lie'er Baobei and Becky Li. Photos: Weibo

It’s easy to assume that China’s most influential KOLs only care about sales numbers, but you’d be wrong – some are leveraging their celebrity to help others, donating to coronavirus charities, building rural schools, championing local produce and empowering young women in marginalised communities

The internet boom has turned the world of retail on its head and anointed a new generation of handsomely compensated online influencers – especially in China, where digital KOLs have the power to provoke purchases worth millions of dollars in a matter of minutes.

But amid this quickfire, high-stakes, big bucks game, the unprecedented global upheaval of 2020 has prompted several high-profile influencers to fall back, step up, and mobilise their powers for good and make a positive social impact – both digging deep for charity projects and using their powerful platforms to inspire thousands of followers to do the same. Here’s four of the most high profile KOLs who’ve shown us their altruistic streak of late.

Austin Li

Li Jiaqi and Jack Ma have become incredibly wealthy thanks to Taobao – now they’re giving back. Photo: Youku

Holding the Guinness World Record for most lipstick applications in 30 seconds, Austin “Lipstick King” Li has amassed around 40 million fans on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok. But Li’s talent for driving sales goes beyond promoting beauty products.

In the past he has donated US$1.5 million to rural areas in China to fund building 20 schools, and on the eve of Lunar New Year 2020, took part in a charity live-stream to raise funds for Wuhan, the then epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, organised by Alibaba (owner of the South China Morning Post). He also personally donated N95 masks and medical protective gear to various healthcare teams in the city.

But perhaps most thoughtfully, he has also helped promote food products from less wealthy Chinese provinces in China, such as Liaoning, giving local producers a huge boost.

Chinese KOL Austin Li has given back. Photo: Weibo

Viya

“Queen of Live Stream” Viya sells pretty much anything to her loyal followers, who place orders worth millions of dollars each night. Taobao’s top live-stream anchor racked up more than US$430 million worth of sales on Singles’ Day last year. Then, this May, Viya achieved a record-high audience of more than 37 million viewers – bigger than the audience turnout for the Oscars or even the Game of Thrones finale.