Canadian influencer promotes exchanges between China, world

Updated: February 8, 2022 Source: Xinhua News Agency
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Photo taken on Sept. 30, 2021 shows the night view of southwest China's Chongqing. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

CHONGQING, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Darby Cumming from Canada, who now lives in southwest China's Chongqing, is an online influencer with around 8 million followers on Chinese short-video platforms.

However, from the bottom of his heart, he still considers himself an English teacher, the job he got when he first came to Chongqing in 2017.

Yearning to see the world and experience a different life, he quit his job at the University of Manitoba in Canada and moved to Chongqing.

He fell in love with the southwestern Chinese metropolis at once. The dramatic difference between Chongqing's mountainous terrain and his hometown's flat roads amazed him.

But soon, while working at a local training institution, the young man found that only a few students could afford his classes as one 50-minute lesson cost more than 400 yuan (about 63 U.S. dollars).

Trying to change the circumstances, Darby Cumming began to use China's short-video platform Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, to teach viewers some simple English free of charge and share his daily life in China.

With a good sense of humor in his videos, he not only developed a fan base but also attracted some collaboration partners.

At first, Darby Cumming didn't believe he could achieve overnight success until the first jointly-launched video garnered about 300,000 likes. It made him realize this could be another podium for him to teach students more inclusively and affordably.

The Canadian now also translates classic Chinese poems into English and displays these poems on his social media platforms.

"The thing that touches me most is that once I gave my phonetic lessons to fans for free, I found some teachers in rural areas played my videos for local children. At that time, I felt what I did has meaning," said Darby Cumming.

Cumming borrowed the idea from his mother, who has dedicated her life to improving the reading skills of children in rural Canada.

"We believe that education is for all," said the young man. "Also, my mother keeps telling me how education can change a child's life."

He has recently registered a TikTok account to teach Mandarin and show Chinese culture to an overseas audience. After posting only 12 videos, he already has over 120,000 followers.

"Many people think I am exaggerating the good sides of China, but I am just showing the facts," said Cumming.

The Canadian will stick to English teaching in China and Mandarin for foreigners via online courses. He believes more people can learn about the real China through people-to-people exchanges via these platforms.

Editor: Yu Huichen