Chinese Influencer Draws Attention for Looking Like Liu Yifei

Liu Yifei just admitted she’s riding on Liu Yifei’s fame. If that sounds odd, it’s because this Liu Yifei is a Chinese influencer—not the famous actress.

A journalism graduate from Guizhou University, Liu Yifei (real name Lin Xiaotang) once struggled to make ends meet during a 2024 internship in Shenzhen, earning just 2,000 yuan a month—below the city’s legal minimum wage. Friends urged her to try livestreaming. After more than a year of quiet broadcasting, she suddenly went viral when clips of her profile—reminiscent of actress Liu Yifei—spread online. She gained over 200,000 new followers in three days as she found herself trending on Weibo’s hot search.

The 23-year-old streamer is refreshingly honest about her strategy. She openly admitted using the name Liu Yifei to ride on the actress’s popularity. “I’m not selling anything, I simply enjoy livestreaming,” she said, adding she wouldn’t even think to enter showbiz. She also denied having done plastic-surgery, insisting she’s always looked this way.

Reactions are mixed. Some praise her transparency: “If you’ve got the looks, why not use them?” Others argue she doesn’t resemble the original Liu Yifei at all. Meanwhile, the influencer trended again recently after she revealed that she’s dropping the name Liu Yifei to revert back to her own name in hopes bashers would leave her alone.