Taiwanese YouTuber Gym Boss live-streams unfiltered look at mainland China
A popular YouTuber from
Taiwan who was once a vocal critic of Beijing has urged his fellow Taiwanese to experience life in Shanghai first-hand, calling the mainland metropolis a 'super first-rate city' during a live-streamed visit aimed at challenging entrenched political narratives on the island.
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'People in Taiwan should come to Shanghai, take a look at the city, and experience life here for several days,' Holger Chen Chih-han said on Wednesday, on the second day of his six-day trip.
Holger Chen Chih-han, better known as Kuan Chang, which means Gym Boss, live-streams to his millions of followers from Shanghai. Photo: Handout
Chen, better known to his millions of followers as Kuan Chang – the Gym Boss – arrived in Shanghai on Tuesday for a self-funded tour that he said was meant to offer Taiwanese audiences an unfiltered glimpse into mainland Chinese society.
Once a staunch supporter of Taiwan's ruling
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Chen said his perceptions shifted after years of observing the mainland through social media which, in his view, revealed a stark gap between online reality and official messaging in Taiwan.
'The construction and development in Shanghai are super first-rate and as the city has advanced, quality of life here has also progressed,' Chen said in a live stream.
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Speaking to reporters before departing from Taoyuan Airport on Tuesday, Chen said he had once been deeply influenced by anti-Beijing rhetoric in Taiwan. 'I used to think I'd never set foot in China. I hated it. I believed everything the DPP told me,' he said.
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