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Ugandan Food Vlogger in Rural China Becomes Unlikely Social Media Star

by Eric Olander

30-year Ugandan immigrant Rose is now a full-fledged social media star on China’s TikTok equivalent Douyin. Now, with more than a million followers and almost 200 million likes, Rose (who doesn’t reveal her last name) has become one of China’s most popular food vloggers.

Rose came from a poor family in Uganda and went to work when she was younger at a Chinese-owned furniture factory. One of the expatriate staff there introduced Rose to a relative back in China, Wu Jianyu. The meeting quickly bloomed into a long-distance relationship.

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