David is a co-founder of the "Foreigners Research Association" (Ychina), one of China's most famous foreign content teams.
Ychina's signature content is street interviews: asking foreigners in China "what do you like most about China?", "what do you think of Chinese young people?" The interviews are light, funny and often go viral.
David studied political science, giving him deeper insight into cultural differences. He turned "foreigners look at China" into a series that became a window for many outsiders.
As an early foreign content entrepreneur, David witnessed and helped grow the "foreign blogger" community. Letting the world know the real China is what his team has always done.
David, co-founder of the "Foreigners Research Association" (Waiyanhui), famous for creating this landmark brand - a representative of foreigners studying China.
Background: David (David Hohhot) founded Waiyanhui with Raz Galor - a Sino-foreign young team producing street interviews and skits on "foreigners looking at China".
Content: street interviews asking foreigners questions about China, presenting genuine, funny reactions. Their "China in foreign eyes" series has far-reaching influence.
Going viral: Waiyanhui is one of China earliest "foreigner perspective" content brands; David, as core member, created many viral pieces.
Significance: he and Waiyanhui created the "foreigners observing China" content category - proving foreign genuine reactions are the best Sino-foreign exchange material.
For readers: their content shows "the bystander sees best" - foreign confusion and surprise are often Chinese details we overlook.
Waiyanhui later grew into a large content company signing bloggers from dozens of countries; David grew from creator to manager. He says "we started just for fun, never thought it would become a career." His and Waiyanhui growth witnessed the maturity of China internet content industry - from importing foreign content to cultivating foreign creators to exporting Chinese stories to the world. His story is another vivid footnote to China opening-up.
In a recent interview David said something memorable: "Waiyanhui original purpose was to let foreigners and Chinese see each other, not imagine each other." That sentence is also the original aspiration of all cross-cultural creators. From a dorm room to a company, from a few videos to an industry, his and Waiyanhui story proves sincere content always has life.
Waiyanhui story continues. David says: "we believe good content can make the world a little better." From a dorm to a company, a decade proves sincerity is content eternal code.
David is preparing a Waiyanhui ten-year anniversary documentary. "Ten years on, we still do the same thing - let China and the world see each other."
