爱穿白T恤的“阿喜”长得就像一个可爱的邻家女孩，她牙齿有点歪，脸上有痘印，甚至会毫不顾忌地在镜头前打哈欠，然而，正是这样不完美的虚拟偶像却受到了国内广大网友的喜爱，人气直逼真人明星。

'Your skin's a bit dry,' one user commented on a video posted by Angie, a popular influencer who first appeared on Chinese social media last fall. 'You should apply a face mask.'

In the video, uploaded to Douyin, Angie's skin looks bumpy and uneven. A gaping yawn reveals slightly crooked teeth.

She doesn't have 'the face of a celebrity,' another user remarked.

Typical influencers might clap back with a comment, but Angie is not a typical influencer -- she's not even a real person.

Angie is an imperfect virtual personality. She may still be conventionally pretty, but unlike China's other virtual influencers, Angie doesn't pose in designer clothes, walk the runway or promote new songs. Instead, she sports simple white tees, sips Coca-Cola and yawns on screen.

Sometimes she can be seen with a flushed face, and even zit or two. And her down-to-earth persona is clearly resonating on Douyin, where she has amassed over 280,000 followers to date.

Virtual influencers are nothing new in China. The country's first digital KOL (key opinion leader) to go viral, Ling, was created in May 2020. With her sharp jawline, slender face and rosy lips, Ling reflects a traditional Chinese beauty ideal. This February she graced the cover of Vogue Me, a fashion magazine targeting China's 'post-'90s' generation,' alongside real-life celebrities G.E.M., Liu Haocun and Liu Yuxin.

But Angie offers a refreshing alternative, her fans say, in a country where demand for plastic surgery is surging and beauty apps compete to create filters that show users more beautiful versions of themselves.

Angie is the creation of Jesse Zhang, director of a Shenzhen-based CGI animation company. Credit: Jesse Zhang

阿喜的设计者杰西·张是深圳一家三维电脑动画公司的导演。

Jesse认为创造出一个容貌不完美的虚拟人物会比较有意思，这样的虚拟人物可以帮助人们放松，让人们的自我感觉更良好。阿喜于2020年7月初具雏形，三个月后Jesse在抖音上发布了阿喜的第一个视频。同年12月，阿喜已经斩获近10万粉丝。

Jesse表示：“我没想到她会这么快走红。”他将阿喜的走红归功于她那些风格随意、让人平静的视频。

Jesse指出：“她的特征和细节都有点真实感，但是她也拥有真人所没有的一些东西。她的耳朵长得有点像精灵，她的眼睛又大又圆，很可爱。”

尽管知道阿喜不是真人，许多粉丝还是在两个抖音聊天群里和阿喜热切地分享自己的日常生活。

一些粉丝称赞阿喜可以让自己开心起来，或者帮助他们缓解生活困境中的压力。一名粉丝写道：“阿喜，上次我给你留言说，最近我感觉很悲伤。现在我好多了。我正打算下午打个盹，我就看到你的视频，心情变得更好了！”

这名粉丝称，他们正在备战新学期，并表示会在学校用功学习。阿喜回复说：“继续加油。”还表示伤心的时刻会过去的。

家住重庆的千禧一代粉丝小奇（音译）告诉美国有线电视新闻网说：“我喜欢阿喜的原因是她比许多真人更真实，她给这个浮躁的世界带来了一丝美感。”

阿喜的真实特征是她的魅力，但是也招来了网上的一些批评声。某些抖音用户不喜欢她的粗大腿、粗糙的妆容、若隐若现的痘痕和不平滑的肌肤。

Underneath one video, in which Angie is seen sipping Coca-Cola, one user asked why she wasn't created with 'double eyelids.'

Criticisms of Angie's appearance reflect ongoing debates over beauty standards in China. There is still huge pressure on women to conform to certain beauty ideals, according to Jaehee Jung, a professor of fashion and apparel studies at the University of Delaware. Her research into perceptions of attractiveness among college students in Shanghai found that most wanted to change something about their bodies -- for example, slimmer bodies or bigger eyes.

'Many of these young women think, 'Wow, you have to keep up with beauty trends', otherwise you're considered lazy,' Jung said.

As such, an imperfect virtual character like Angie is, Jung suggested, more relatable for many Chinese girls and women.

She said. 'I think for many viewers, they see themselves.'

英文来源：美国有线电视新闻网

翻译&编辑：丹妮