愛穿白T恤的“阿喜”長得就像一個可愛的鄰家女孩，她牙齒有點歪，臉上有痘印，甚至會毫不顧忌地在鏡頭前打哈欠，然而，正是這樣不完美的虛擬偶像卻受到了國內廣大網友的喜愛，人氣直逼真人明星。

"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."

阿喜是去年秋天在國內社交媒體上初次亮相的網紅，一名用戶在她發布的視頻下面評論道：“你的皮膚有點干，應該做個面膜。”

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

在這段上傳到抖音的視頻中，阿喜的皮膚看上去不太平滑。她打了個大哈欠，露出了有點歪的牙齒。

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

另一名用戶評論道，她沒有“明星臉”。

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

典型的網紅可能會迅速在評論區回應，但是阿喜不是一個典型的網紅，她甚至不是一個真人。

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.

阿喜是一個不完美的虛擬人物。她可能也符合美女標準，但是和中國其他的虛擬網紅不同，阿喜不穿名牌服裝出鏡，不走T臺，也不宣傳新歌。她穿著簡單的白T恤，喝著可口可樂，在屏幕上打哈欠。

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.

有時她會臉紅，甚至會長一兩個痘痘。然而她接地氣的人設顯然在抖音上引發了共鳴，迄今為止她已經吸引了逾28萬粉絲。

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.

虛擬網紅在中國并不新鮮。中國首位走紅網絡的虛擬關鍵意見領袖翎于2020年5月面世。尖下巴、瓜子臉、朱砂唇，翎的長相非常符合中國傳統審美。今年2月翎還和真人明星鄧紫棋、劉浩存和劉雨昕一起登上了以90后為目標讀者群的《服飾與美容》時尚雜志的封面。

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.

但是阿喜的粉絲表示，在整容手術需求暴增、美妝APP爭相研發美顏濾鏡的環境，阿喜的出現讓人耳目一新。

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

阿喜的設計者杰西·張是深圳一家三維電腦動畫公司的導演。

Zhang thought it would be fun to create a virtual character with imperfect features -- someone who could help people relax and feel more positive about themselves. Angie started taking shape in July 2020, and within three months Zhang had posted his character's first video to Douyin. By December, she had already gained around 100,000 fans.

Jesse認為創造出一個容貌不完美的虛擬人物會比較有意思，這樣的虛擬人物可以幫助人們放松，讓人們的自我感覺更良好。阿喜于2020年7月初具雛形，三個月后Jesse在抖音上發布了阿喜的第一個視頻。同年12月，阿喜已經斬獲近10萬粉絲。

"I didn't think she would take off so quickly," he said, attributing her popularity to her calming, casual videos.

Jesse表示：“我沒想到她會這么快走紅。”他將阿喜的走紅歸功于她那些風格隨意、讓人平靜的視頻。

"Her characteristics and details all have a bit of this 'real-life' feeling," Zhang said. "But she also has some things a real person wouldn't have. Her ears are a bit like a fairy's, and her eyes are round, big and cute."

Jesse指出：“她的特征和細節都有點真實感，但是她也擁有真人所沒有的一些東西。她的耳朵長得有點像精靈，她的眼睛又大又圓，很可愛。”

Despite knowing she's not real, many of Angie's followers eagerly tell her about their day in two group chats on Douyin.

盡管知道阿喜不是真人，許多粉絲還是在兩個抖音聊天群里和阿喜熱切地分享自己的日常生活。

Some fans have credited Angie with cheering them up or helping them de-stress amid life's predicaments. "Angie, last time I left you a message saying that lately I was feeling really sad. Now, I'm doing much better," one fan wrote. "As I was getting ready to take an afternoon nap, I saw your video and was put in an even better mood!"

一些粉絲稱贊阿喜可以讓自己開心起來，或者幫助他們緩解生活困境中的壓力。一名粉絲寫道：“阿喜，上次我給你留言說，最近我感覺很悲傷。現在我好多了。我正打算下午打個盹，我就看到你的視頻，心情變得更好了！”

The follower said they were prepping for the upcoming semester, and that they would strive to work hard in school. "Keep pressing on," Angie wrote in response, adding that sad moments will become things of the past.

這名粉絲稱，他們正在備戰新學期，并表示會在學校用功學習。阿喜回復說：“繼續加油。”還表示傷心的時刻會過去的。

"The reason why I like her is that Angie is more realistic than many people who are actually real," one of her followers Xiao Qi, a millennial living in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing, told CNN. "She gives the impetuous world a touch of beauty."

家住重慶的千禧一代粉絲小奇（音譯）告訴美國有線電視新聞網說：“我喜歡阿喜的原因是她比許多真人更真實，她給這個浮躁的世界帶來了一絲美感。”

Angie's real-life characteristics are part of her appeal -- but they have also attracted criticism online. Some Douyin users have disapproved of her thick thighs, creased makeup, faint acne scars and uneven skin.

阿喜的真實特征是她的魅力，但是也招來了網上的一些批評聲。某些抖音用戶不喜歡她的粗大腿、粗糙的妝容、若隱若現的痘痕和不平滑的肌膚。

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

在阿喜喝可口可樂的一個視頻下，一名用戶問道，為什么不把阿喜設計成“雙眼皮”？

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.

對阿喜外貌的批評反映出國內當前對審美標準的討論。特拉華大學時尚與服飾學教授鄭在熙（音譯）表示，中國女性所承受的外貌壓力依然很大。她面向上海大學生開展了一項審美調查，發現大多數女生都想讓自己的身體發生一些改變，比如變得更瘦或眼睛變大。

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

鄭在熙稱：“許多受訪的年輕女性都認為必須趕上審美潮流，否則會被視為懶女人。”

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

鄭在熙指出，正是像阿喜這樣不完美的虛擬人物更能引發許多中國女性的共鳴。

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

她說：“我認為，許多觀眾都在阿喜身上看到了自己。”

英文來源：美國有線電視新聞網

翻譯&編輯：丹妮