The phenomenon of foreign influencers documenting their travels in China is nothing new, but recently it was taken to new heights by US social media sensation, Darren Jason Watkins Jr., better known to his fans as “IShowSpeed” or “Speed.”
During his multi-week China tour, which began on 24 March, Speed live streamed his experiences in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong to his more than 38 million YouTube subscribers, doing everything from visiting the Great Wall to undergoing kung fu training as a Shaolin monk.
While many of these events were pre-planned, other elements of the 20-year old’s journey were wholly spontaneous, including his friendship with a middle-aged Chinese man wearing a distinctive, long floral jacket.
Speed’s first encounter with the man, whom he later referred to as “Unc” or “Uncle,” was during his fourth Chinese livestream, which took place in Chengdu. At the time, Uncle was seen pushing into the crowd in an attempt to hand Speed a cooked goose. This pattern would continue in subsequent streams in Chongqing, Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
[See more: Instagram announces age restrictions on live streaming]
Recognising that Uncle was making a deliberate effort to follow him around the country, Speed invited him to tag along following their Shenzhen encounter, with the pair gradually developing a bond.
Despite Speed’s reservations that Uncle wouldn’t “make it to [the] next stream” because “it’s in a city faraway,” the fervent follower defied the odds, appearing alongside Speed during his 6-hour stream in Changsha, a city situated roughly 760 kilometres away from Shenzhen.
Uncle’s dedication, humble attitude and friendliness towards Speed and his bodyguards helped to endear him to many of Speed’s fans, lifting his profile nationally. Read on to find out more about Uncle’s background and reasons for following Speed.
What is the background of Uncle on IShowSpeed’s videos?
According to Chinese language media reports, Uncle is a 49-year-old livestreamer named Lin Jiang who goes by the social media moniker “Rongchang’s braised goose brother” or “榮昌滷鵝哥” (róng chāng lǔ é gē) in Mandarin.
Born and raised in Rongchang, a district west of Chengdu, Lin originally studied architectural engineering at university, working at a construction site for several years after graduation. Feeling restless, he decided to pursue other fields of work, taking jobs in food and beverage, delivery services, furniture and decoration. As the story goes, each of these endeavours proved to be unsuccessful, resulting in him losing much of his savings and racking up significant debts.
[See more: China’s Gen Z social media users are now being photographed with fake baby bumps]
When Lin was following Speed across China, he had already been working as an influencer for several years, helping farmers and small businesses to sell their products through his streams and videos. Locally, he had also established himself as a charitable personality, donating supplies to sanitation workers during the Covid-19 pandemic and funds to help out in the 2023 Hebei floods and the 2025 Tibet earthquake.
For his work in promoting Rongchang, Uncle has garnered various honours in recent years, becoming one of the city’s “good influencers” and “good product recommendation officers” in 2024.
Why was Uncle following Speed around China?
Initially, some of Speed’s fans were skeptical about Lin’s motivations, believing him to be an opportunist who was attempting to ride on the coattails of Speed’s success purely for his own financial benefit. Some had even speculated that he was the owner of a store and was merely trying to sell his own poultry products, although this did not turn out to be the case.
Towards the end of the Shenzhen livestream, Lin made it clear to Speed that he was following him around in order to promote his hometown of Rongchang and its products. “I’m doing it for my city. I persist [because] I want to show the best of my hometown to your fans around the world,” Lin told Speed in Chinese via a translation tool.
[See more: Here are some of the best things to do in Shenzhen]
On whether or not he was piggybacking on Speed’s success, Lin said in an interview after the tour that his actions could be described as such, although he reiterated that “my main desire was to raise the visibility of my hometown and its cuisine, and not to make money for myself.” Lin pointed out that if he personally secured more fans and traffic as a result of his exposure on Speed’s channel, he would be able to “continue better promoting his hometown.”
What were the Rongchang foods that Uncle fed Speed?
Rongchang braised goose, roasted suckling pig, peanut candy, sesame seed biscuits and pepper chicken. With respect to the suckling pig, which he offered to Speed in Chongqing, Lin was unaware that Speed refuses to eat pork during his livestreams, out of respect for his Muslim fans. Lin subsequently posted an apology video.
Who is the ‘Green Goblin’ or ‘green guy’ in Speed’s Changsha livestream?
The Green Goblin (綠哥布林) refers to the co-founder of the 80s themed Changsha Wenheyou restaurant, who was showing the Speed around the venue during the Changsha stream. The young man, whose real name is Weng Donghua, was called such because of his elfin look, green clothing and what was perceived as his brusque and obnoxious behaviour, which fans likened to that of a goblin.
In particular, fans criticised Weng for the way he impolitely told Lin to vacate his seat next to Speed, so that he could introduce the food to the US streamer. Weng was heard to shout “I am boss, I am boss!” to Lin and threatened to “find” him in Chongqing the following day if he did not meet his demand.
[See more: Mostly female and glued to Facebook: A snapshot of social media usage in Macao]
Always the class act, Lin later explained to the media that Speed had invited him to sit next to him, and that he gave up his seat because he respected the arrangements made by the organisers. Lin said he would not demand an apology from Wenheyou, adding that he hoped everyone would “calm down” and not get “overly concerned” with the incident.
The backlash didn’t end there, however. Weng has since resigned amid a flood of negative reviews for the restaurant in the wake of the video.
Why does Uncle wear that full-length floral coat in Speed’s livestreams?
Lin explained in an interview to Chinese language media that he wore the floral coat, as it is a trademark of his livestreams.
For those unfamiliar with the striking floral pattern of the coat (known as 東北大花布 in Chinese), it originated in Shanghai, but was later popularised in northeastern China, where it is printed on a variety of products such as bed covers, quilts and clothing.
The rich colours are seen as auspicious, offering a warm contrast from the chilly winters in the region. Speed was also seen wearing a suit with this same pattern during his livestream in Beijing with TikTok star Miles Moretti.
What has Uncle been up to following Speed’s series of livestreams?
Upon returning to Rongchang, Lin received a hero’s welcome from various local braised goose store owners who gathered around Rongchang North Station. In recognition of his efforts to promote Chongqing cuisine to the world, Rongchang’s government awarded Lin 100,000 yuan (US$13,675) and reimbursed the travel expenses that he incurred while following Speed.
[See more: British YouTubers Jolly discover Macao’s Michelin-rated street food]
Just this week, the head of Chongqing’s Administration for Market Regulation awarded Lin a business licence for a food tech company, while a local China Agricultural Bank granted him a million yuan (US$136,755) in credit to help him kickstart his own business.
Will IShowSpeed and Uncle ever reunite now that Speed’s China tour is over?
At the end of his last stream in China, Speed said to Lin that he wanted to bring him to the US, with Lin responding that they would “definitely meet again.” Upon returning to his hometown, Lin stated that he “wanted to experience the livestream culture of America” and “hoped to be able to continue promoting our Chongqing Rongchang food and specialty products, in order to allow the residents in our hometown to live an even better life.”
Interestingly, some Chinese media users have created parody videos that splice together old footage from separate videos by Speed and Lin to create one in which Lin visits the US streamer in America through a portal similar to the ones from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Where can I follow Uncle’s social media accounts?
Lin’s main social media account is on Douyin (Chinese version of Tiktok). He also has accounts on Red Note, Kuaishou and WeChat.
A number of users have tried to capitalize on Lin’s recent popularity by creating fake accounts under his name, resulting in Lin’s lawyers having to issue a warning.
