Overnight fame turns herdsman into tourism ambassador
Print Edition
With Bambi eyes and a bright smile, 20-year-old Tibetan herdsman Tamdrin became the latest Internet celebrity after a video clip and photos featuring his handsome face went viral online.
Tamdrin was spotted and videotaped by a photographer in his hometown of Litang County in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze, southwest China鈥檚 Sichuan Province. The seven-second video garnered nearly 3 million 鈥渓ikes鈥 on Douyin, the Chinese version of video-sharing platform TikTok, in less than three weeks.
Meanwhile, Ding Zhen, Tamdrin鈥檚 name in Mandarin, continues to trend on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. People also got to know him as more videos came out, in which he used stumbling Mandarin to introduce himself and express his affection toward his chubby pony Pearl, and the animal has gained over 80,000 followers on its own Weibo account.
Being 鈥渨ild, sweet and pure,鈥 as his fans described, Tamdrin stands out from most Internet celebrities for his innocence, the traditional Tibetan costumes he wears and the breathtaking views of his hometown in the background of the videos.
Sensing Tamdrin鈥檚 soaring popularity, the local government invited him to be the tourism ambassador of Litang just days after his first video went viral. He was also hired by a local culture and tourism promotion company for a monthly salary of 3,500 yuan (US$500).
Dubbed 鈥渢he city in the sky,鈥 Litang is located over 4,000 meters above sea level and 654 kilometers from Chengdu, the provincial capital. In the Tibetan language, Litang means 鈥渇lat grasslands like bronze mirrors.鈥
The county, with a population of some 73,000, just shook off poverty in February. Compared with its neighboring Daocheng County, Litang鈥檚 tourism has not been robust, though its views are no less impressive, according to local authorities. Tamdrin鈥檚 overnight fame gives the local government a boost to develop local tourism.
With his new title, Tamdrin appeared in a three-minute promotional video that came out last week in which he showed audiences his life of herding yaks beside the snowy Geyen Mountain, racing horses in endless meadows, praying in temples and singing love songs with his friends around a bonfire.
鈥淭he world is big, but I love my hometown the most,鈥 he said in the monologue.
A comment below the video on Douyin read: 鈥淭he sincerity of Tamdrin and the beauty of Litang soothe our anxious minds.鈥
Many netizens are seriously considering a tour to Litang. According to a recent report of Trip.com, China鈥檚 major online tourism company, the search volume of 鈥淟itang鈥 increased over sixfold in the 10 days after November 20, four times more than during the National Day holiday in October.
The interest was shown both in and outside Sichuan, making Litang a possible tourism hotspot during the upcoming New Year holiday, according to Trip.com.
More and more travel websites have published articles introducing travel routes to Litang, hotels to stay in and places to visit there.
Interestingly, some careless fans originally thought Tamdrin鈥檚 hometown was in the Tibet Autonomous Region and expressed their wish to travel there, which prompted Sichuan鈥檚 media groups and tourism department to demonstrate the fact on Weibo that Tamdrin belongs to them.
However, their counterparts in Tibet took the chance to promote the region鈥檚 own tourism resources and invited Tamdrin to its capital Lhasa, a place he had expressed hope to visit one day in an interview.
Over the weekend, more provinces and autonomous regions around China, including Qinghai, Gansu, Shandong and Zhejiang, joined the rivalry for Tamdrin鈥檚 visit as well as tourists鈥 attention by showing their sceneries on Weibo.
Obviously, there鈥檚 no loser in this 鈥渇ight.鈥 Netizens jokingly called Tamdrin 鈥渁 real social media influencer that drives the national tourism economy.鈥
Du Dong, general manager of the company where Tamdrin works, said people鈥檚 enthusiasm projects a prosperous tourism market in the coming year.
鈥淚 hope Tamdrin could grow together with Litang鈥檚 tourism industry,鈥 he said.
Tamdrin is happy with all the invitations and the fact that he could help promote his hometown to more people. He will be a qualified tourism ambassador but has no intention to become a star as many other Internet celebrities did, he said.
As he said in the promotional video, his dream is to keep the title of 鈥渢he prince on the horseback鈥 given by his friends in Litang and win every race.
鈥淚 just want to ride my pony over the mountains and hills,鈥 he said.
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