A painting of Hsiao created in 1988.

In the past few months, many foreign celebrities have created accounts with Sina Weibo, a popular microblogging platform in China, as their first step into the Chinese market.

Joining in the social networking rush are A-listers from South Korea such as Song Seung-heon, Lee Jun-ki, Super Junior's members Choi Si-won and Kwon Sang-woo, and all the five members of the Wonder Girls. European and U.S. singers and socialites were not far behind, led by such stars as Paris Hilton, Westlife, Yanni and SUM41.

One way to gain favor with the Chinese audience is, of course, to know their language, and many of these celebrities appeared to have been learning Chinese. They also share photos and write about their personal lives. Some of them have even become quite the microblog addicts. All of these create feeling of direct and close interaction between the celebrities and their fans, leading to increased popularity.

Shortly after he registered with Sina Weibo on March 23, Song Seung-heon published a video of him, wearing a black shirt and greeting fellow microbloggers in Chinese: "Hello, I am Song Seung-heon." Since South Korean actor Choi Si-won joined Sina Weibo the next day, every blog post he published has been forwarded thousands of times. The number of his fans on Sina Weibo surged to 320,000 within four days. American socialite Paris Hilton posted on her Weibo account personal photos with her sister Nicky, to the delight of their great number of fans.

A painting of Hsiao created in 1988.

Source: China.org

Editor: Xu Xinlei