Photo：Zhu Jingning
Photo provided to Hangzhoufeel
Story
By Daria Fominykh
“She is the most beautiful girl with a beautiful voice,” reads one of the top comments under a viral video by Angelina (@angelina.zhq) on Instagram. In the video, Angelina, a girl with long red hair, charming eyes, and a soft and elegant voice, sang an English cover of the viral Douyin hit Don’t Let Our Love Wither. The performance won people over as numerous comments in English, Arabic, Chinese, and many other languages quickly followed.
Angelina is an influencer from Canada. Despite being a college student, she has already built an impressive presence across major international platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and RedNote, where she’s gathered a following of over 7 million. Her content is best known for being fun and engaging--she often sings and dresses in eye-catching outfits that showcase her creativity and style.
Angelina came to Hangzhou this month to participate in Hangzhoufeel’s program Hangzhou, A Window to China’s 5,000-Year Civilization, which offered a five-day cultural immersion into the city’s history and culture. Ten invited guests, including Angelina, come from 10 different countries and diverse backgrounds ranging from scholars and creators to media professionals.
On Day Three of the program, Angelina and I got dressed in full Song dynasty-style outfits--flowing robes, layered fabrics, and our hair styled in tall traditional buns. It felt a little like stepping into a historical drama set, especially when we showed up later that afternoon at the Grand Canal, one of Hangzhou’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites with over 2,500 years of history.
We crossed Gongchen Bridge and found a cozy spot on the second floor of the Wu Liren Folk Art Museum. With a cup of Hangzhou’s signature black tea--Jiuqu Hongmei, and a plate of dried fruit in front of us, we settled in for a relaxed chat.
How it started
Making videos has been Angelina’s passion since childhood. Moving to Canada from China at the age of four, she struggled to fit in and started making videos on a first-generation iPod to cope with loneliness. What began as a hobby--filming stop motion and playful skits--evolved into a creative image that eventually found an audience. “I think it really blew up at the end of high school, during the COVID-19 quarantine. I had a lot of free time, so I made a lot of everything--I did a ton of cosplay. Then, in my first year of university, I started singing, and that’s kind of what pushed me past 1 million. By the third year, I started posting on TikTok and Instagram--before that, it was only Douyin”.
China’s evolving image
in Western social media
Interestingly, while Angelina did not grow up trying to represent Chinese culture, the rising global curiosity about modern China--its fashion, music, and digital aesthetics--helped her reconnect with her heritage.
“Before, if you asked someone in Canada what China was known for, they didn’t really know. Japan had anime. Korea had K-pop. Now people are talking about Wukong, Chinese RPG games, and Hanfu fashion. Even people at my university started saying they wanted to visit China instead of Japan. That never happened before.” Angelina feels like it is her job to help amplify China’s presence.
What makes content go viral
Angelina also shared straightforward but insightful advice on content creation:
·Hook fast. The first five seconds are crucial. “If you don’t grab their attention immediately, they’re gone.”
·Lower the barrier of entry. Start with something visually or emotionally accessible before introducing complex cultural infomation.
·Don’t rely on algorithms. She emphasized that hashtags and post times matter less than creators think. “It’s not about the perfect time to post--it’s about how interesting the video is.”
·Make it relatable. Connect abstract or niche topics with something familiar.
To clarify the last piece of advice, she gave a vivid example: “During my previous internship, I was working with a TED Talk speaker--he does a lot of content on entrepreneurship, lifestyle advice, and stuff like that. And the way I helped grow his account from 0 to 200,000 was basically by telling him to say the exact same things he was already saying, but start the video by linking the topic to something familiar--like a movie character or a Disney show. So he did this series where he talked about every single character in the Disney movie Encanto--there are a lot of kids in it--and he connected each child to a different childhood trauma response, basically.”
Content creation realities
Despite her upbeat visuals, Angelina admits the process is far from easy. Even her “simple” 30-second videos take one to four hours to film--not including makeup, setup, and editing. Her phone often overheats from multiple takes.
She described the pressure of staying spontaneous while being intentional. “The hardest part is making something feel effortless when in reality it’s very planned. People think lifestyle content is just filming your day, but it’s a performance. And sometimes, it takes the joy out of the moment.”
That’s why she doesn’t film everything. If a moment is too real or personal, she often stays present instead of pulling out her phone.
Different audiences, different strategies
Angelina adjusts her content across platforms. On Instagram and TikTok, she talks more, uses casual language, and embraces Gen-Z humor. On Douyin, her content is more visual and polished--Chinese audiences expect higher production quality and are less forgiving of casual speech, especially if it sounds unnatural or not idiomatic.
“Some topics that work in the West just don’t land well in China. It’s easier to separate content by platform than risk a cultural misunderstanding.”
Final thoughts
Angelina’s journey reflects what Gen-Z does best: blending cultures, challenging stereotypes, and finding new ways to express identity. She does not pretend to have all the answers but knows what she is doing and why.
After our chat, with rain tapping on the windows overlooking the Grand Canal and our Song-style robes still on, we asked Angelina if she wanted to film one of her daily dance videos. A little shy to film in front of us at first--she eventually went for it and totally nailed the cute dance. Curious how it turned out? Check it out on @angelina.zhq--it’s already passed 50K likes!