Baidu, China’s top search engine, recently released a report that went over some of the top search trends for the first half of 2024.
To make this report, the company gathered information from Baidu’s Hot Topics, Hot Search, and Kuaishou, covering major popular events, trending memes, and key figures from the first half of the year.
It’s highly insightful for anybody with a strong interest in modern Chinese culture, either for fun, education or business purposes.
In this article, I will go over some of this report’s top findings and give my own insights.
Top 5 Search Terms for Early 2024
Below are the top 5 rending topics on Baidu from January 1 to June 30, 2024 :
- Chengdu Disney
- Small Southern Potato
- Gross Outfits
- Dehua the College Student
- Go to the Gym to Confess
I will give a brief overview of each search term below.
Chengdu Disney
The “Chengdu Disney” search has its origins in China’s popular music show The Rap of China. After being eliminated from the competition, the rapper Nuomi (诺米) made a video where he criticized the TV show by rapping.
However, his accent in the video made his pronunciation of “diss” and the Chinese word for you “ni” sound like the English word for “Disney”. To make matters more comical, he filmed in an outdoor senior gym.
This led netizens to visit the outdoor gym and film videos themselves pretending they were at a Disney theme park in Chengdu.
This search term shows us that Chinese society, much like the English-speaking world, can take a tiny thing in an online video and turn it into something much more if it has a funny side to it.
It may also reveal Chinese netizens secretly want there to be another theme park in western China.
Small Southern Potato
This term actually began in the winter of 2023 and carried into this year when Harbin was celebrating the 40th anniversary of its annual ice festival.
The term itself arose when the festivities led to a high number of tourists arriving in the city. Harbin is located in China’s far northeast and people in this region are known for being taller than those from the rest of the country. Plus, the tourists tend to wear coats that are very large, puffed up, like the shape of a potato.
Therefore, this term came to mean tourists from the south.
In fact, this trend became so popular that some began selling cheap potato keychains in Harbin.
This search term reveals how business-savvy some elements of China can be. They took something simple and turned it into a product. The item was a hit because it resonated with current events in a lighthearted manner.
Gross Outfits
It isn’t uncommon for Europeans and North Americans to talk about how the two regions have a different approach to clothing outside the house, with the latter often being seen as more “casual”. However, China may have joined its neighbor across the Pacific.
Indeed, the term “Gross Outfits” started popping up online when Chinese office workers began wearing clothes that didn’t match and made them look like they just rolled out of bed.
Dehua the College Student
“Dehua (德华)” is the name of a female character in the TV show Romance of Our Parents from 2014.
In one particular episode of the show, Dehua is responsible for taking care of her five nieces and nephews while their parents are at work. In one scene, having had enough, she screams “I’m so tired of this!”
This scene popped up online due to how it resonated with the millions of Chinese who need to return to their hometowns every Lunar New Year and need to spend a lot of time caring for their siblings’ children. Many netizens shared content related to this.
Go to the Gym to Confess
Similar to the last hot term, this one comes from the movie The Pig, the Snake, and the Pigeon. This movie is about Taiwan’s third-most-wanted fugitive and his ambitious plan to overtake the top two.
The meme itself comes from a scene where a character says they are a sinner for overeating and that they need to go to the gym to confess their sin.
The term went viral when after netizens began using part of the dialogue in their posts.
This trend highlights how important gym culture has become to the country in recent years.
Before we move on, if you’d like to hear about trends like these as they develop, make sure to subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter.
Top 5 Baidu Memes
Baidu also was able to use its Hot Search feature to keep track of the top memes users searched for on the website. Below I’ve given a quick description of each.
City bu City (City不City)
This meme actually started with a non-Chinese netizen who posted a short video at the Great Wall and asked a question with mixed Chinese and English: “city or not city?”
While this phrase may not make sense to you on its face, what he was asking was whether the Great Wall is a fashionable place or not.
But the background to this video actually is deeper: it is teasing Chinese speakers about how many of them will insert English words into their sentences.
This phrase was then mimicked across Chinese social media and even a member of the Chinese government commented on it.
The success of this one meme reveals why it is important for brands to show they understand China in general. No doubt, the fact that a non-Chinese person was involved with this one played a part in its success.
This particular meme reminds me of why John Cena is so massive in the country: he has made an attempt to speak the language.
Who is in Beijing?
This phrase was taken by a number of tourism companies in different places to make memes using a similar phrase: “What is there to do in Beijing or other places?”
People across social media began using this to show off things to do in Beijing and elsewhere.
This meme reveals that Baidu’s report has something for tourism industries as well. What would have happened if a foreign tourism agency had hopped on to this meme and showed it was paying attention?
We used this meme in a recent article for a logistics company asking “Who’s in Uzbekistan’s foreign trade industry?” It received 24 shares and 500+ likes, which is quite high for this kind of niche content, and valuable. In niche content for high-value sales, that’s like having a conference hall full of attendees.
Disenchantment
One of the other top terms found in Baidu’s word cloud for memes is the term 祛魅 or “disenchantment”.
This is a social science term originating with the German anthropologist Max Weber to describe how people moved from traditional society, where they saw an enchanted world before them, to the modern world, where everything was rationalized and beliefs were devalued.
Baidu didn’t go into depth about this meme’s history, and even a quick search on the website doesn’t draw up anything useful. The term has been used online in China for many years.
However, a number of articles can be found on Baidu from the past few months describing the term and how it illustrates peoples’ experiences with modern life. One of these comes from the People’s Daily, one of China’s top newspapers.
After all, China has been facing economic and geopolitical uncertainties since COVID 19. Most young people up until now have been used to growing up in a country always on the rise. Recent events may have allowed these individuals to experience a harder side of life for the first time.
Hard Crowd Control
This term comes from China’s gaming culture, specifically multiplayer online battle arena games where two teams compete against one another in a preset battlefield.
In these types of games, players are capable of putting effects on others to “control” them, meaning that the other player will be unable to use their character.
In English ‘gamerese’ we learned this is called “stunlocked”. The Chinese word, however, has jumped out of gamer culture into the broader Chinese Internet lexicon.
In recent months, the term “control” has become a popular meme word in China to describe when a particular video or article gains someone’s attention, usually emphasizing how much time a player spent viewing it.
玉米几
China is home to many different “topolects”, which means people in different regions can read the same language but speak it differently. It’s a little like a dialect, but given that people can read the same, it is not the exact same.
This meme comes from this environment.
A woman in China’s southern Yunnan province made a video that became popular online due to her pronunciation of the Chinese word for “1”. Instead of it sounding like the Mandarin “yi”, it sounded like “yu”.
This meme highlights something unique about China compared to a lot of Western countries: puns related to the way people speak in different regions of the country are very popular.
In the next decade, the pareas outside of China’s provinces where Mandarin are spoken will become more developed. The people who speak differently will play a larger role in the country’s economy too.
Internet Celebrities
Next, Baidu’s report went over how its search engine has allowed business people all over China to build online brands for themselves. It expressed delight at how these individuals had learned how to use the website to pioneer new marketing methods.
In contrast to older forms of marketing, Baidu has allowed normal people the ability to interact with companies and their leaders like never before. This in turn has helped businesses thrive more.
Here are some of the leaders they mentioned:
Top Business Leaders on Baidu
Zong Qinghou
Zong Qinghou was at the top of the list probably due to his recent death in February of this year. Born in 1945, Qinghou was the CEO and chairman of Hangzhou Wahaha Group, China’s largest beverage producer.
Qinghou lived through China’s Maoist years, even being sent to the countryside for manual labor before returning home in the late 1970s where he could only find menial work at a local school due to his low level of education.
Eventually, however, his hard work and an initial loan of ￥140,000 allowed him to build up the company that it is today.
Qinghou’s fame online in China reveals that Chinese consumers, like people in other countries, have a deep love for people who put a lot of work into their businesses, especially if they come from nothing.
Companies outside of China may want to talk about their own leaders on Chinese social media who have similar stories to this in the future.
Dong Yuhui (Michael)
Dong Yuhui was once an English teacher, but he has since become an online celebrity. He became popular through combining cultural awareness and English language tips.
He also works for the education company New Oriental, which is one of China’s oldest and most successful in the language learning industry. The company took a hit in 2021 when the government put in place new regulations around afterschool education due to the amount of debt parents were taking on.
However, Dong Yuhui has played a key part in changing the company’s future around.
Yuhui’s content and success is an example of a tactic companies may want to use to grow closer to consumers in China.
Chinese individuals are eager to learn, especially if a host is charismatic and interesting to listen to.
Lei Jun
Lei Jun is the CEO of Xiaomi. If you haven’t heard of the company, get searching! They have not only led India’s phone market in recent years, but have become a contender in China’s ever-growing electric vehicle competition.
Lei Jun is active on Weibo, China’s version of X.
He frequently uses the website to share new products, but he also often shares polls to interact directly with his fans asking for their advice. In the picture below, he has asked netizens to vote which line from his recent annual speech was the most resonating.
Lei Jun’s approach here and the fact that he is showing up at the top of Baidu’s report reveals that his unique approach to talking with consumers is something to keep in mind if you wish to use Chinese social media yourself in the future.
Dong Mingzhu
Dong Mingzhu is the Chairwoman of Gree Electric, a home appliance manufacturer from Guangdong province in Southern China.
In fact, her company is the world’s largest air-conditioning manufacturer. Mingzhu is ranked the 7th most influential woman in the world.
Zhong Shanshan
Zhong Shanshan is the founder and chairperson of Nongfu Springs, a bottled water and soft drink company. He became ranked the wealthiest person in China in 2022.
While he has a background similar to Zong Qinghou, having endured the hardships of China’s mid-20th century, he actually came under fire after Zong died. Many netizens claimed he didn’t show enough respect for his business rival’s passing and called him unpatriotic.
The flames were fanned by some pointing out his son held a US passport.
The above story highlights how China is no different to other countries in how the internet can raise people and companies up just as much as it can bring them down.
Top Ordinary People on Baidu
Baidu has been a blessing for business owners as it has for ordinary people too.
Below are the top 5.
Hu Youping
The top search for the first half of 2024 involved a woman who became famous for shielding a Japanese mom and child from a knife attack in Suzhou, China, losing her life in the process.
Chinese netizens came out in swarms to pay their respects to the woman while the Japanese embassy in China lowered its flag to honor her.
Marketing is all about connecting with audience through finding common values. The story of Youping here highlights that heroism, despite ethnicity or nationality, is a value Chinese deeply admire.
Brands all over the world often rely on the idea of “bravery” or “strength to do what is right” in campaign ads. How could your brand rely on this concept in China?
Guo Youcai
Guo Youcai became an online celebrity this year after posting a cover of the love song “Promise” online. Netizens also loved him due to the story that went alongside his video.
Youcai grew up in rural Shandong province. His mother died when he was young and his dad sent him to live with his aunt while he went off to start a new family. Over the years, Youcai began doing odd menial jobs to survive, including busking and livestreaming outside a nearby abandoned railway station.
Though in the past he had very few people view his videos, his rendition of “Promise” caught on and led to him becoming a sensation, so much so that netizens began traveling to the town to see him.
In response, the local government repaired a nearby road and telecoms operators made sure the area had a good internet connection.
Youcai’s story highlights a few things about China companies may want to keep note of.
First off, Chinese citizens enjoy a story of humble beginnings. Second, when something goes viral online, anyone or anything in proximity to that event will do whatever they can to profit from it. The government’s quick moves to repair the road are similar to our earlier tale of Harbin making potato keychains for tourists.
Granny Wang
By day, Granny Wang is a worker at a glass factory, but she also runs a blind date show at a local kung fu theme park where she gets men to compete for young women.
Earlier this year, a livestream of her act went viral. Just like with Youcai in my previous example, Granny Wang’s performance led to tourists heading to Henan in large numbers.
She is known for matching 40 to 50 couples every year.
Though Granny Wang’s show may appear to have nothing to do with marketing, it highlights how Chinese people want to see results. Granny Wang may be just a worker at a factory and a small town theme park, but she understands what people want and how to connect the needs of different people.
Jiang Ping
Like many of the people on this list, Jiang Ping comes from a part of rural China people outside of the country don’t often hear about.
This student from a village in Jiangsu province became famous online for outcompeting elite students in a global math contest. She ranked 12 in this competition, competing against people from Harvard, Oxford, and MIT.
This wasn’t the only reason she made headlines however. Many of the other contestants filed a complaint asking for an independent investigation into her answer sheet.
Many doubted her achievement given that she had only scored 83 out of 150 in a school math exam held after the qualifying round of the tournament.
Jiang Ping is similar to the CEO of Nongfu Spring mentioned earlier. Like that online tale, this one highlights how China’s internet loves controversy, especially if it ruins a charming-sounding story.
10 Yuan Coffee Lady
Earlier this year, a video went viral showing a woman in Nanjing selling very cheap coffee ($1.38!).
Netizens were especially interested in the video because the woman is making coffee with just instant powder. With coffee chains like Starbucks having blown up over the past decade in China, a business model as simple as this is quite different, despite it being so simple.
The shop owner’s success from this video reached such heights that she ended up running out of hot water one day while selling drinks to her customers.
The Global Times, a leading Chinese state-owned newspaper in China, believes the woman appealed to Chinese netizens because of her authenticity to serving the same simple product over a long period of time instead of the marketing gimmicks big brands often rely on.
Baidu’s Insights Into China’s Education Sector for Early 2024
When filling out college applications, users no longer consider reputation alone when selecting schools
A Change in Education Preferences
One point that Baidu highlights in its report is that they believe users are paying less attention to a university’s reputation now, but more on general information about a university and the majors it offers.
This matches our experience doing marketing and sales for higher education institutions and private schools. We know that students and their parents seek out information on Baidu, but also on Little Red Book, WeChat and other platforms. While the reputation of the school is surely a strong factor, a great multi-channel content marketing program can help change the minds of students and parents.
Baidu’s Top Universities & Majors in China
Since Baidu began, the website has been a key place for Chinese citizens to learn about the Gaokao (China’s university entrance exam).
In fact, the Gaokao is so important to Baidu’s users that it set up a specific topic page for it with the goal of gathering wisdom from across the web to accurately present information about colleges and majors to users. For example, Baidu updates a ranked list of the most popular universities and majors in real time.
Below are two charts containing this information:
Two of these universities, Southwest and Zhejiang, are some of China’s largest universities in the country. It makes sense why they are on this list.
Otherwise, Tsinghua is considered one of the country’s greatest institutions. Shenzhen University was ranked 10th in the world by Nature Index 2021 Young Universities.
Baidu’s New AI Tools
Additionally, Baidu has launched its AI Volunteer Assistant to help Gaokao candidates make better choices when applying to universities.
This assistant provides students with professional, comprehensive, and real-time Gaokao guidance and can break down any information barriers candidates may encounter.
With Baidu, Gaokao candidates are capable of closing any information gaps. They gain multidimensional insights into university life so that they can make more informed decisions and have better references.
Electric Vehicles on Baidu
Electric vehicles (EVs) have been the talk of the town over the past few years, especially in China where the cars make up a larger portion of the market. As such, Baidu included a section in its report devoted to them.
Safety Issues
Baidu pointed out in its report that, although EVs have become more popular over the past year, users have increasingly become concerned with safety issues. Several topics related to this have trended this year and attracted significant attention.
In the long term, it will be crucial for the EV industry to not merely focus on sales volume, but also on the quality of the vehicles produced.
Cars Catching on Fire
One of the biggest stories involving the safety of EVs over the past six months has been cars catching on fire.
For example, by April, the Chinese Fire and Rescue Department of the Ministry of Emergencies expressed that 3,640 electrical cars had caught on fire in the first quarter of the year, meaning that on average, 7 cars caught on fire every day.
Brands that were involved were the AITO M5, Great Wall Motors’ Ora, BYD, and Xpeng.
Tesla Recalls
Non-Chinese brands were not immune from problems this year either. For example, Tesla was also in the news for recalling 1.6 million cars after concerns about a software problem that had led to collisions.
Most Followed Car Companies on Baidu
Xiaomi
Remember that this report is just focusing on data from the first half of 2024. Just because a company’s car topped the list this time, doesn’t mean it will the next time or that it is the most popular car in the Chinese market.
After all, Xiaomi is here given that it only just revealed that it was working on its own EV at a car show in Guangzhou. The company is known for its phones, air filters, and other tech in China and other countries. Seeing such a popular brand enter the race was sure to have turned heads.
Baidu’s report also mentions that Xiaomi topped this list due to there being many disputes about the company’s overproduction capacity and the quality of the cars.
Li Auto
Li Auto entered the rankings here due to its MEGA car and the conversations online that ensued.
As its name suggests, the MEGA car is huge. It certainly will remind anyone in North America of Tesla’s cybertruck.
Li Auto also made this list because of its sales this year, its second highest on record.
NIO
NIO was also one company that was talked about a lot on Baidu. The biggest topic involved NIO’s current troubles and whether it could evolve from its adversity.
Netizens wanted to understand what path forward NIO had.
Tesla
Tesla had a rough few quarters with the competition within China heating up and the company being forced to slash prices to compete. This is one reason the company has been talked about a lot on Baidu.
Huawei
The last car company on Baidu’s list of most talked about car brands on its website is Huawei. Although best known for their phones and telecommunication business, the brand has also invested into cars in recent years.
This has included a new software brand called Qiankun for intelligent driving. Netizens are interested to see whether Huawei’s phone ecosystem can give it a leg up over the competition. After all, Apple tried this but failed in the United States. Huawei’s main competitor from a software+hardware company is Xiaomi.
After Richard, the CEO, used the term “far ahead” to describe the company’s new Mate50 and their new satellite communication feature, the brand’s future was talked about online using the same words.
Top General Hot Topics on Baidu for Early 2024
Baidu also kept track of what general hot topics users were interested in searching and discussing, mentioning that weather, consumption, travel, and housing were subjects users were most interested in.
One particular point the article wanted to point out was that users seemed to be more interested in public hotspots this year. This reveals that individuals have more enthusiasm to participate in social events. Many even actively engaged in discussions to express their own personal opinions on the matters.
Weather Topics on Baidu
Early 2024 has been a year of harsh weather for China. As a result, many netizens used Baidu as a means to understand what was happening across the country and to see how they could help.
Snowstorm in Hubei
Netizens were very interested in Hubei’s snowstorm this February, which slowed down people traveling home for the Spring Festival. Netizens discussed how the snow turned off the power in some areas and even trapped drivers in their cars for a few days.
The internet’s ability to draw attention to this event helped the government be able to monitor the situation, especially agencies that were in charge of sending disaster relief items to the province.
Rainstorms in Southern China
Southern China was heavily battered with rain in the early months of this year. In fact, around 110,000 people needed to be evacuated from Guangdong province. 25,800 people had to be placed in emergency shelters.
Conditions like these occurred other times over the first half of this year too, with 9 dying from landslides in June.
As the south was being hit with rain this past June, northern China was dealing with record high temperatures. This was right after the country recorded its hottest spring.
Drought in Shandong & Henan
The heat mentioned in the last section also led to drought in Shandong and Henan, two provinces responsible for much of China’s farming output. Like with the snow in Hubei, the Chinese government needed to send emergency relief to these provinces to help with the weather.
Consumption Topics on Baidu
Many of the top stories dealing with consumption this year on Baidu were related to China’s slowing economy and citizens having more awareness of how companies were treating them.
May Day Holiday
The most popular topic in the “consumption” category for the first half of 2024 was related to China’s practice of having workers come in on weekends after a holiday to make up for some of the missed days.
3.15 Food Safety
Every year, China has an annual TV show on World Consumer Rights Days where undercover investigations reveal scandals related to brands and companies.
This year, a popular topic related to this show talked about how one Guangdong dish was using meat from where a pig’s neck connects to its body. Meat from this region of the pig have stricter rules around them. Netizens were very interested in the TV show’s investigation into how one Anhui company had not followed guidelines correctly.
Increase in Residential Electricity Prices
China has already been having a tough time with its economy since the pandemic, but things got worse for some households with their electricity bills increasing.
Lottery Sales Surge
One way Chinese youngsters have been dealing with the economic slowdown is through purchasing lottery tickets. Some stores have even been trying to lure people in with catchy slogans like “We should still have dreams, who knows one day they may come true?” Other coffee shops have been offering tickets with every coffee.
Travel Topics on Baidu
Baidu searches for the first half of 2024 were mainly focused on how travel has changed recently.
College Curtains
Chinese college students have been in a heated debate about the makeshift curtains they put up in their dorm rooms to create a sense of privacy. Some fought to end the practice due to them being a potential fire hazard while others demanded to keep them due to benign tired of living in rooms with 4 to 8 other people without alone time.
May 1st Expressway Collapse
Netizens were interested in searching Baidu to learn more about the Meizhou Expressway in Guangdong province collapsing and killing 48 people.
Spring Festival Travel Rush
Spring Festival, also known as the Lunar New Year, is well known for being a period where millions of Chinese return to their hometowns. This year was no different, with many using Baidu to learn about travel information related to the holiday.
12306 Platform
Connected to the last topic, China’s railway department upgraded its 12306 platform, the official ticket-booking platform in China, to help make it easier for people to purchase tickets for their travels home during the Spring Festival.
Housing Topics on Baidu
Like with consumption, Baidu searches related to housing reveal a lot about where China’s economy is currently. After all, China’s housing bubble popping has been a major topic of interest worldwide.
Housing Price Fluctuations
China was in the news a lot over the past decade for its housing market. Some believe it was the country’s construction boom that allowed it to not be as hurt by the 2008 financial crisis as the rest of the world.
In the past year or so, this housing boom has led to some troubles, with a number of development companies having gone bankrupt.
Shangrao Lamp Incident
In March of this year, after renting a self-built house in Shangrao, Jiangxi province, a woman was fined ￥10,000 by her landlord after he discovered that a lamp in the house was not the same as it had been before she moved in. This sparked an online discussion in China where netizens asked whether the landlord’s behavior counted as extortion.
Embed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y5vyn5IZY0
Interest First, Principal Later
Banks in China launched a mortgage repayment scheme labeled “interest first, principal later. Many netizens discussed this policy online.
This scheme allows renters to put interest on their earlier payments to ease their financial struggles in the earlier days of renting. People with better credit are given better payment options.
Early Loan Payments
During the first half of this year, Chinese homeowners began paying off their mortgages earlier due to a weak housing market and consumer sentiment. These early repayments caused a 65% reduction in the size of China’s residential mortgage-backed securities market.
Other Hot Topics on Baidu
Baidu’s report also highlights how young people were interested in organizing blind dates and seeking out less well-known events in cities. The company believes that Chinese people, especially the young, are more intensely pursuing personal space and self-awareness.
International Affairs on Baidu
When it comes to international military affairs, Chinese netizens are most interested in ones involving the United States.
Baidu users have always been highly interested in global developments. International military events frequently trend, in particular, events involving the United States.
Baidu’s report placed special emphasis on the fact that Chinese want to see peace in the world. As will be seen below, however, they may disagree with other countries on how that peace should come about.
Top International Events on Baidu for 2024
The above events show that Chinese netizens are most interested in events related to their closest Asian neighbors, namely Singapore, Russia, and South Korea.
Although no American events are here, perhaps they would be if the United States wasn’t given its own section (see below). Nevertheless, the attention given to Iran and Russia may be related to the United States anyway, given that both countries are two of the country’s biggest rivals on the world stage.
The death of Iran’s leaders probably appeared in a lot of searches due to no one being sure exactly how the helicopter crashed. After all, mystery can lead to people making up stories to fill in the gaps. Some believe that the helicopter’s outdated materials are due to the sanctions the USA has imposed on Iran. These sanctions have played a role in making many Chinese sympathetic to Iran given that China has been in a trade war with the US since Donald Trump’s presidency.
Top Conflicts on Baidu for Early 2024
The above shows that China is very interested in the same international conflicts as other countries. However, one may notice that netizens seem more interested in Russia’s internal affairs instead of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Another thing to notice is that events concerning the South China Sea are heavily skewed towards a Chinese point of view. A lot of English news is more on the side of the Philippines. The latter focuses more on an international law of 2016 that denied China’s claim to the islands based on history.
Chinese may be interested in the Palestinian, Iranian, and Israeli conflict because it resonates with their own experiences. After all, Chinese still remember how their consulate was accidentally bombed in Belgrade. Many believe this was done on purpose. Furthermore, most Chinese are on the side of Palestine and Iran, believing Israel is leading a genocide in the region. China, like many other countries that have come to Palestine’s defense, sees itself in Palestine given their own colonial past.
Top American Events on Baidu
Baidu’s report reveals that Chinese netizens are very interested in the United States’ election. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have a chart dedicated just to it!
Similar to Americans, the Chinese find the age of the United States’ presidential candidates to be something to talk about.
Sports
During the sports season, users have focused their attention on sports in which China excels.
With 2024 being an important year for sports, Baidu aggregated comprehensive sports content with real-time updates on hot topics. This allowed users to stay informed about the latest sports developments at any time.
The report found that in the first half of 2024 Baidu users were most focused on the Euro Cup. Ronaldo and Mbappe were the most discussed stars.
The Euro Cup on Baidu
From the above, we can see that Chinese netizens were super interested in the Euro Cup, despite their country’s team not being involved in the competition. Just like with other competitions, Chinese companies showed ads at the Euro Cup not merely because they were sponsoring the event but because Chinese citizens were watching them. This is why many of the ads were also shown in Chinese.
The Olympics on Baidu
The Olympics were a popular topic on Baidu, as they were on all social media and search engine sites worldwide. The popularity of these four events should not be overlooked.
Ping-pong and diving are no brainers. China has dominated these events for decades.
China has been nearly as successful in shooting. As shown in the top stories related to the sport above, China was especially amazed by their participant’s record-breaking performances.
We can say the same for gymnastics as well.
How can this information be used by brands interested in marketing in China? Companies may wish to tailor their commercials around these sports. They may event want to work with athletes from these sports to gain brand recognition.
Companies selling sports equipment may wish to use the success of some sports at the Olympics to put more focus on the China market in the future.
Other Events on Baidu
Other popular events online involved Shang Juncheng making Chinese history to become the first Chinese male to appear in the second round of Wimbledon.
Netizens were also shocked that Ding Junhui lost in the first round of the Snooker World Championship. The Chinese citizen is well known for being the most successful Asian plate in the history of the sport, having been the first player from outside Great Britain and Ireland to win the UK Championship.
Zhang Weili defeated Yan Xiaonan at the UFC 300. This was the first time two Chinese-born athletes met for a title in the organization.
Lastly, Chinese netizens were interested in Zhou Guanyu, a racing driver who came in 14th place in the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix.
Tourism
Users are interested in popular tourist spots to post on social media, but they also love exploring lesser-known destinations
Baidu’s report highlights how Chinese citizens have become more interested in domestic tourism. The company pushes small cities to investigate their own unique cultures and resources instead of blindly following trends if they want to truly stand out.
In the first half of 2024, the top trending travel destinations for Baidu users were Xi’An, Harbin, and Beijing. The tourist hotspots in these regions were very popular.
Other lesser-known locations also became popular through TV shows and movies.
Xi’an
In Xi’an, Baidu noticed that users were becoming more interested in immersive cultural experiences.
Xi’an is remembered for being China’s capital city during a number of dynasties, including the Tang. People visit to get a feeling for the ancient past.
Baidu also mentions that foreign tourists are coming to Xi’an more.
Harbin
As mentioned earlier, Harbin was popular on Baidu due to its ice festival, especially given the number of tourists from China’s south who visited this year.
Many women who visited Harbin took photos as if they were European princesses.
Beijing
Beijing may already attract tourists year after year due to it being the capital, but this year many tourists were interested in visiting the city due to its presence in TV shows and memes.
As mentioned above, the quote “who is in Beijing?” was a big reason for these memes. The downside to this fame was that tourists found it harder this year to get tickets to Beijing.
Altay City
Altay is a small city in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of far northern Xinjiang.
It gained fame this year due to its role in a TV drama called To the Wonder. The show is an adaption of a collection of prose by Li Juan and tells the story of a woman who returns to the city after failing to become a writer.
Many netizens were drawn to the city due to its small-town nature and the scenery shown in the TV show. The area has breathtaking grasslands and lakes. People can also go skiing.
Tianshui
Located in China’s eastern Gansu province, Tianshui was popular with netizens this year due to its culture and food.
Malatang is a street food where people put skewers into a large saucepan filled with a mildly spicy broth. Although this dish is known throughout China, most people associate it with the province south of Gansu, Sichuan. This year, people visited Tianshui for its own malatang.
What makes Tianshui malatang unique is the presence of the gangu chili pepper. This pepper is more aromatic and juicy that the one found in Sichuan dishes.
When it comes to culture, people were interested in visiting Tianshui’s Maijishan Grottoes. As someone who has visited this site myself, I highly recommend it!
The whole complex involves 194 caves cut into the the side of a hill. There are over 7000 Buddhist sculptures and tons of murals all over the mountain too.
Rongjiang
The last destination that was popular on Baidu was Rongjiang County, which is located in China’s southeastern Guizhou province. This county is also under the administration of the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, meaning the Miao ethnic group make up the largest percent of the area’s demography.
The county gained significant coverage this year in the media for its grassroots soccer league known as “Cunchao”, which literally translates to Village Super League.
The success of this league even gained the attention of Italian soccer legend Fabio Cannavaro and former Brazilian soccer star Kaka.
Baidu explains in its report that Rongjiang, and Altay City too for the matter, are examples of small cities that can become famous overnight. While this is good, it can lead to problems if those areas are not used to accommodating so many tourists.
This is why the report highlighted how cities need to be thinking about how they can be improve the experiences of visitors and how to manage resources more effectively.
TV Dramas & Movies
Acting skills are paramount. Supporting roles can take the stage and even minor characters can have their time in the sun.
As a platform that comprehensively aggregates celebrity news, Baidu is capable of providing real-time updates on the activities of celebrities. The website is an effective tool for users to follow their favorite stars.
Brands, especially entertainment companies, can learn what types of shows and movies Chinese consumers are interested in as well from Baidu’s report.
Top 3 Movies on Baidu for Early 2024
Article 20
Article 20 is a comedy drama about a middle-aged prosecutor who has one last chance to work at the Municipal Procuratorate. As this is happening, he becomes wrapped up in a controversial matter.
The movie was the 10th-highest-grossing film worldwide and was directed by famous Chinese filmmaker, Zhang Yimou. Yimou is known for creating other movies that have been popular worldwide like To Live (1994) and Great Wall (2016).
The movie’s theme focuses on the right to self-defense. It was even co-produced by China’s top prosecution agency.
Chinese netizens enjoyed the show due to its ability to educate on law, as well as the strong acting.
YOLO
YOLO was another comedy drama that was very successful in the early months of 2024. It is an adaption of the 2014 Japanese film 100 Yen Love.
The film tells the story of a woman who has been too sad to leave home for many years but decides to turn over a new leaf after meeting a boxing coach.
The film went on to be shown in Singapore and Malaysia too.
It wasn’t only the movie that was popular, but the lead actress’s physical transformation, losing 110 pounds for the role.
Embed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrd2JCGPMD4
The Pig, the Snake, and the Pigeon
The last film on Baidu’s list is The Pig, the Snake, and the Pigeon. This movie is from Taiwan.
Though it is a comedy like the other two, it is a black comedy action thriller about a dying and fame-seeking hitman who tries to elimate two other criminals who are more wanted than him so that he can become the most wanted man in Taiwan.
The two main actors in the film won Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor at the 26th Taipei Film Awards.
The movie became accessible on Netflix as of March.
Summary
Movies play an important role in setting the scene for a country’s culture, especially one as big and closed off as China.
The fact that the three movies listed above are all comedies should not be overlooked. The same may not be true for the United States right now. If the Chinese market continues to be important to the movie world in the future, movie companies may do well to watch more of China’s popular comedies to discover what Chinese citizens find funny.
Another thing to pay attention to here is the careers the main characters of these movies are involved with: law, crime, and boxing/fitness.
Legal dramas are popular in many countries, but one may wonder why in China such a story was well-received. North Americans love their crime dramas, but the United States has prided itself on being a country of laws since its founding. It’s part of the culture.
This isn’t to say China isn’t a law-abiding country, but the concept of law has been playing a larger role in recent years. After all, it was only in 2005 when the country began implementing legal reforms. Chinese citizens were given the right to sue their government in 2015. Keyu Jin mentions that 2021 was a milestone for the idea of rule of law in China.
Article 20 was co-produced by the government agency Supreme People’s Procuratorate.
Another interesting aspect to note is that the main character in YOLO is someone who has withdrawn from society. At this present time, China’s unemployment rate is at 17%. The past few years have also seen the rise of the “Lying Flat” movement where workers, mostly Millennials and Gen Z, have decided to put less emphasis on work, seeing it as a futile act given the lack of money they receive in return.
One must ask whether there is any connection between the movie’s storyline and China’s current state. Perhaps Western movie companies wishing to be successful in China should think about writing similar stories to resonate with the country’s audience.
Top 3 Dramas on Baidu
Blossoms Shanghai
Blossoms Shanghai was produced by Hong Kong director Wong Kaw-wai.
The show was a huge success with audiences because of its portrayal of 1990s Shanghai. China has gone through many changes over the past few decades with its rapid development. It’s no wonder that a well-done heartfelt show about an individual trying to make something of themselves found fans in Chinese netizens.
The show did better because of its inclusion of Mandarin and Cantonese songs from the era. The actors and actresses in this show drew attention for using Shanghainese instead of Mandarin to speak to one another.
It should also be mentioned that the series had more advertisements per episode than any other drama airing at the time. Companies like Remy Martin, Estee Lauder, Pepsi, Bausch & Lomb, and KFC all had product placements in the show.
The show had an effect on cuisine too, with many viewers seeking out Shanghainese food they saw in the drama.
Netizens talked about pork ribs and rice cakes the most.
Joy of Life 2
Joy of Life Season 2 has a 9/10 rating on MyDramaList, a popular website for East Asian TV shows.
The show follows the illegitimate son of a finance minister who has fallen in love with the daughter of a Princess Royal. It is based on the novel Qing YuNian by Mao Ni and is set in the Southern Qing dynasty, though the main character has memories of the present day.
The first season won two awards at the Shanghai Television Festival.
The Tale of Rose
The Tale of Rose concerns a woman’s career and life from her teenage years to middle age. It began airing earlier this summer.
The show reveals the role celebrities and social media can play in company sales. After Liu Yifei, the Chinese-American actress playing the leading role in the drama, was seen posing with a yellow rose on Weibo, the flower saw an increase in sales.
Summary
There are four trends.
- Nostalgia
- Localism
- Time Travel
- Celebrities & Product Placement
The use of Shanghainese in the show also suggests Chinese are interested in localism. Foreign creators don’t need to come to China to make something similar. Perhaps Chinese will be interested in shows that reveal a more local side to other countries too.
The aspect of Joy of Life that involves a character living in the past but remembering the present reveals that Chinese may be interested in stories that involve time travel or historical fiction.
Lastly, the product placement in Blossoms Shanghai and the yellow rose event with Liu Yifei suggests that Chinese are okay with brands using shows to advertise themselves..
The success of Blossoms Shanghai reveals that the Chinese public is interested in seeing shows that contain nostalgia. While Western brands may not be capable of writing stories that take place in 1990s China, they may be able to jump on this trend by making more content concerning Chinese abroad in the past. There are many stories to choose from: the railroad, the first Chinese restaurant in the USA, etc.
For both movies and shows, Baidu explained that users talked about the plots the most.
Top 3 Variety Shows on Baidu
Singer 2024
Singer is a popular singing show in China. What made it special this year is that it has not appeared on television for four years.
Chinese netizens were especially impressed this year with Na Ying’s performance of 守国门 or “Guard the Country”.
Ride the Wind 2024
The second most popular variety show in China according to Baidu’s searches was also a music competition, but this one was trumpeted as an international cultural exchange for women.
In fact, 36 women from all over the world came on the show to interpret Chinese traditional culture in their own way, whether it was opera, folk music, or dancing.
Contestants came from France, Vietnam, the United States, Thailand, Russia, and elsewhere.
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Become a Farmer Season 2
Become a Farmer is a show where 10 young people are chosen to form a farming team. They are given a goal of cultivating a certain amount of land within 190 days.
Chinese netizens have enjoyed the show because it showed authentic lives of people living outside the big cities.
What is interesting about this show is that, like Article 20, it shares some commonality with the Chinese government’s policies. After the COVID lockdowns, youth unemployment grew in China. President Xi began speaking about how younger people in the country could return to rural areas to help revitalize areas left behind during China’s economic growth.
The first season of this show came out in 2023.
Summary
These three variety shows reveal that the Chinese public love singing and dancing. However, they also reveal that shows that deal with people from different countries enjoying one another’s presence and celebrating Chinese culture are also well received.
Lastly, Become a Farmer shows that there is some link between the government’s policies and what becomes popular.
Top 5 Stars on Baidu
Jia Ling
Jia Ling is the main actress of the aforementioned movie YOLO. Given this movie’s success, it is no wonder she was the top star on Baidu.
Jia Ling is more than an actress. This 42-year-old is also a crosstalk comedian, a type of show where two people make jokes about one another, usually with a conversation filled with puns.
Before YOLO, her movie Hi, Mom in 2021 was the highest-grossing non-English film of all time until Barbie came out.
Jia Ling also gained recognition for her role in YOLO due to her commitment to lose 50kg in 6 months for the film.
Zhang Ruoyun
Zhang Ruoyun is one of the key actors of the show Joy of Life, which was mentioned earlier.
Ruoyun is also popular because he has been chosen to front Fendi’s fashion campaign for this fall.
Like with the previous actress mentioned, Ruoyun also lost weight for his reprisal in Joy of Life.
Liu Yifei
Like with the last two celebrities, Yifei appeared in one of the popular shows mentioned earlier in this article: The Tale of Rose.
Westerners may recognize this actress from Mulan. In fact, Yifei is a Chinese-American.
Once again, the actress’s health lifestyle was the talk of the town, both in Chinese and English media.
Like with Ruoyun, Yifei’s fame in China and abroad has earned her a role in Bvlgari’s brand campaign for this year.
Zhao Liying
Zhao Liying appeared in the film Article 20 that I mentioned earlier. In fact, she won the AFA New Generation Award for her role in the movie.
Liying has played a role in business before. She became the Vice President of Yi Xia Technology in 2016 and has partnered with Hesong Media.
Recently, the actress was named the global brand ambassador of Self-Portrait, a London-based Chinese Malaysian designer. The company has a significant footprint in China already with 60 stand-alone stores.
Netizens talked most about Liying returning to the ancient China drama genre. She appeared in the TV series The Legend of Shen Li earlier this year.
Xing Zhilei
Zhilei comes in fifth on Baidu’s top star list. She played a main role in Blossom Shanghai.
Many netizens were interested in hearing about Zhilei’s experiences with director Wong Kar Wei. In particular, they talked about her interview where she discussed practicing walking for two years in anticipation of working with the director, who she had heard liked filming actresses walking in his productions.
Netizens also discussed Xin Zhilei’s victory at the 32nd Shanghai Magnolia Stage Performance Awards where she won best leading actress.
Summary
Brands may want to pay attention to this list of stars. Yes, they are all connected to the most important shows and movies of the year in China, but they are also connected to some of the most famous luxury brands in the world.
Chinese love following a brand if it is connected with a celebrity. This has actually only been a recent trend over the past few years.
Top 5 Rising Stars on Baidu
Baidu also made an important note that the first half of 2024 saw many “dark horses” rise to popularity due to their minor roles in productions. In other words, many supporting roles had such good performances that they often took the spotlight.
Wang Tao
Wang Tao comes in first place on Baidu as a rising star in the industry for his role as Duke Su in the TV series The Double. The show is a revenge tale set in ancient China.
The actor’s performance was so good that people are already talking about his upcoming roles in other similar shows.
Yu Shi
Yu Shi is an actor and singer-songwriter who gained popularity last year in the epic fantasy film Creation of the Gods 1: Kingdom of Storms.
In 2023, he won the Most Popular Newcomer Actor Award for his role in the film Born to Fly.
Hailing from China’s northeast, he is actually of Mongolian descent and has a Mongolian name. In fact, in preparation for Creation of the Gods, he studied horse training and equestrian culture related to horseback archery.
He was also a voice actor in the Disney movie Wish and is the brand ambassador for Dior.
Zheng Hehuizi
29-year-old Zheng Hehuizi became popular on Baidu for her cameo in In Blossom, another historical television series.
Wang Hongyi
Wang Hongyi was spoken about online due to his fourth male lead role in Lost You Forever, a fantasy romantic historical show based on a novel.
Huang Yi
Huang Yi received praise online for her supporting role in The Legend of Shen Li, a historical xianxia (Chinese mythological heroes) show.
She also appeared in The Tale of Rose.
Summary
As I noted earlier, Baidu seems to be curious about the trend of netizens paying more attention to the acting skills of lesser stars in TV shows and movies.
For brands interested in marketing in China, perhaps it would be useful to pay attention to these lesser stars too. Sometimes fans like to see a celebrity who hasn’t been given the right attention yet be shown the spotlight.
Top 3 Novels on Baidu
King of All Aspects
King of All Aspects was the most popular novel on Baidu for early 2024. This fantasy story involves people with elemental powers.
Netizens were most exited about the Chinese company iQiyi previewing an animated adaption of the show.
Joy of Life
We’ve already seen The Joy of Life earlier in this report. The TV show is so successful in China that it inspired netizens on Baidu to purchase the novel it was based on too.
Mission of Justice
Mission of Justice is a fantasy novel concerning a young man from a poor family who must overcome many difficulties to become a taoist hero.
Top 3 Games on Baidu
Genshin Impact
Genshin Impact has made waves in China since its release in 2020 just as it has done with Gen Z across the world. In China, however, the game has played a special role as one of the first cross-platform games developed in the country to become a major hit worldwide.
Honor of Kings
Honor of Kings has been one of China’s top games ever since it was released in 2015. Chinese players love multiplayer online battle arena games, especially given that they are easy to play on their phones.
This game is played not only by friends and work colleagues, but also by professional gamers. People often watch tournaments to learn new tricks in the game.
PUBG
Many people worldwide became enthralled by the battle royale genre over the pandemic. People loved to drop from the sky with their friends and try to be the last surviving team on the map.
Chinese players are still carrying on this craze with the original battle royale game, PUBG.