Mystery woman in black behind Obama at the town hall meeting becomes popular and speaks out
November 24th, 2009 by Key | Posted in News, Opinion | 217 Comments »
[From NetEase and many others] During President Barack Obama’s town hall meeting at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, a beautiful Chinese girl dressed in black appeared in many photos and videos of the scene with the President. Quickly the photos along with the mystery girl became popular on the Chinese internet. The mysteries identity of the beauty let to her Human Flesh Search. She is Shanghai’s image ambassador, Fan Bingbing’s relative, Yang Lan’s niece and many other speculations roamed on the internet.
November 16, President Obama delivered his speech and dialogued with the Chinese youth. However compared to President Obama’s speech, one photographer at the scene seemed to be more interested in the woman in black. The entire process of this pretty girl taking off her red coat was captured on camera and made into an animated GIF. It was then uploaded onto the internet and became widely distributed on forums and QQ groups. Then other netizens uploaded screenshots of this woman from the video of Obama’s speech, quickly, beauty in black’s classy and beautiful looks are greatly admired by everyone.
Netizen Alex praised “this girl kind of looks like Tang Wei…” Netizen Honolulu focused more on president Obama: this MM (short for beautiful girl) knows how to release electricity, not sure if she shocked Obama? Netizen Jason was obsessingly interested in the girl “Anyone knows what brand her red coat was? And how much it costs?”
Other netizen’s description said “If you watch the video online, when Obama was shaking hands with fellow students one by one, suddenly a woman in black attracted my attention… this woman, elegantly stood there, had a special expression which was intolerably aggressive. Wearing a black OL business suite, black silk stockings, and her hair worn in a bun gave her an even more noble looks. What was even more unbelievable, this girl had all varieties of poses, but her manner and presence was neither overbearing nor self-effacing…”
Netizen human flesh search, who is pretty woman in black?
In many efforts of human flesh search, some netizens uploaded this girl’s “life photos on campus”, claimed “pretty woman in black is from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, was once the Shanghai’s image ambassador”, she is “a MBA student at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Management” and “people often see her”. (Form tianya, netizen claimed her name is Wang Zifei 王紫菲) However some netizens analyzed that, according to woman in black’s calm expression at the scene, not likely she is a college student.
Supposedly she was on “Go Oriental Angels” Nanjing district
More rumors referred “beauty in black and Fan Bingbing are relatives, some also said she is Yang Lan’s niece.” While everyone had their own answers, other speculated that she is a policewoman, “because her beauty is filled with chills of killing, she looks very much like one when people say she is.” After all, none of the above speculations had been fully confirmed.
The video playback is also described in the online community was very similar feedbacks. When she shook hands with Obama, the beauty in black was not shy or nervous like other students, her eyes looked directly at Obama. She looked courageously right at Obama.
Questioning: the beginning of another hype?
The identity of the woman was not yet revealed, but there were already people started writing reviews to condemn, saying it was a clever hype. The article said, why did she sit behind Obama so that she was exactly in line with the camera angle? Why was her manner so professional? Why was she so calm in front of the camera, and even felt like she was posing? Most importantly, during U. S. President’s speech, why was there a camera specifically taking a set of her photos and uploaded online?
Author states, looking these signs, he feels that this thing was not so simple, perhaps using Obama as an opportunity for exposure to start the beginning of another hype.
At last Wang Zifei (王紫菲) responded to this in her blog post titled “What did President Obama bring me?”
Responding to this incident: http://news.jschina.com.cn/focus/200911/t243541.shtml
Today Sina staff contacted me through my teacher, hope I can talk about my feelings though a blog.
Two days after I attended dialogues town hall meeting with President Obama, my classmate came to my dorm and said to me “You are popular on the internet!” and searched for “woman in black behind Obama” on the internet for me. Once I saw all the news on varies sites that’ when I found out about this incident. There were also many talks on the forums, I was upset at some negative comments but I did not reply because I was really busy at the time. But misleading news was spreading by the hours, I felt my power alone could not slow down the speed of rumors spreading on the internet, even if I explained, it would not have helped, so I took the ignoring approach. Recently there were many text messages and phone calls regarding this, I always tell my friends to “not to reveal anything online, after awhile the rumors will die down.” But my silence led to even more speculations. After talking with Sina staff members, I think it is a good solution to sincerely speak with you through this platform.
1. self-hype?
Some media speculated that it is not possible that I am a student because of to my manners, however I am making an announcement here that I am a current student at Jiao Tong University. I don’t have natural born self-esteem, but I am constantly developing my self-esteem. I could not deny the fact my quality had to do with my family and my well-trained childhood. I first played violent on stage when I was 6, after I acted in plays, hosted shows, was an image ambassador and was interviewed many times, therefore I am not a stranger to cameras and would not feel nervous in front of the cameras… Everyone knows the security was very strict during U.S. president’s visit. Except for the reporters, no one could bring cameras in, even students could not bring cameras in, how could I self-hype? Also I did not want to be popular because of this. People who have a brain would know this, entertainment news is like drinking tea, first time is like washing tea leafs, no one really cares. Maybe 2nd or 3rd time it will have the sweet taste, but in the end it gets weaker and weaker. After a few washes, who would remember me? What can I leave behind for people? Before I shoot films just out of my personal interests, but at the same time I wanted to be rebellious, because generally people have misconceptions about highly educated women. I hope to change people’s view through my actions. But I never wanted to go into entertainment circle, therefore I rejected many TV stations’ offers and contracts. I feel business management is a long term path for me, therefore I study hard, my gaokao (college entrance exam) was the normal exam, not the kind for entertainers.
2. Why did i sit there?
There were nine universities participated in the meeting, each school was assigned to fixed seats. I was sitting at one of the seats for Jiao Tong University without any special arrangements. There were some people had even better views than me, why were they accused of self-promoting? As for my posture being professional, I knew that this meeting would be broadcasted live worldwide via the internet, I not only represented my own image, but the image of our school and our country, of course I could not relax!
3. Why did I take off my coat?
Because it was an important meeting, I wore a dress to show respect. I chose to wear a black shirt so I don’t stick out, but you know how Shanghai’s weather is like. I remember it was raining and a bit cold in the morning, so I wore a coat. After I entered the meeting room I took off my coat, at that time Obama was not in the room yet. In fact the temperature was not very high in the room, I really wanted to keep wearing my coat, but if I really wore the red coat, people are going to say I want to be famous like crazy?
4. My attitude of comments
Although some individual comments from netizens hurt me, but I can understand. Maybe they were criticisms to certain social phenomena through me, but I became an innocent victim. And some of the influential people on the internet, made comments without any investigation, actually claimed that I was a female official conducting self-promotion. How did Chinese Youth became female officials? Did you even read the title? You should know that you are the leaders of public opinion, does such an irresponsible move in the end hurt other people or damage your own credibility?
To destroy a person only takes one sentence, but to develop a person takes more than thousands of words, please have mercy~
Mystery has been solved, we no longer have to bother guessing, my recent studies and life have been disturbed and hoping to quickly restore back to normal. I like small animals because they are cute and simple. Hope that after all this I can continue to be simple self. Presenting you with a small kangaroo photo, I wish you happy, all the best~
Tags: Chinese Youth, Human Flesh Search, Internet Rumor, Mystery，Wang Zifei, Obama, Scandal, University
