Raz Gal-Or

Raz Gal-Or (Hebrew: רז גלאור; Chinese: 高佑思; pinyin: Gāo Yòusī; born 1994) is an Israeli internet businessman based in China. He attended the Canadian International School of Hong Kong,[2][3] and is an alumnus of Peking University,[4] where he studied international relations. He first gained media exposure in China when he got a single appearance on television.[5] In July 2021, BBC News reported that Gal-Or was working as a stringer for China Global Television Network.[6]

Raz Gal-Or
רז גלאור
Born1994 (age 28–29)[1]
Israel
OccupationBusinessman
Known forfounding Ychina (Foreigner Research Institute China)
Parent
Chinese name
Chinese高佑思

Early and personal life

Raz Gal-Or, the son of Amir Gal-Or, originated from a community near Tel Aviv, and moved to Hong Kong at age 13; at the time, he lacked fluency in English and in any variety of Chinese. Frank Tang of the South China Morning Post wrote that "his China journey was driven by the ambitions of his father".[5] Tang stated that by 2017 Gal-Or was embedded in a Chinese lifestyle and that his Mandarin was "fluent".[5]

Foreigner Research Institute China

Gal-Or operates the Foreigner Research Institute China (FRI; Chinese: 歪果仁研究协会; pinyin: Wāiguǒrén Yánjiū Xiéhuì; lit. 'The Crooked Nuts Research Institute'), also known as Y-Platform, a social media group which documents lives of foreigners in China.[4] It is headquartered in Zhongguancun, Haidian District, Beijing.[7] The name is a pun as "crooked nut" (歪果仁; wāiguǒrén) sounds similar to that to the word "foreigner" (外国人; wàiguórén).

The organization had been established in 2016 by Gal-Or and his Chinese co-founder Fang Yedun (方晔顿),[4] who Gal-Or met in university and originated from Zhejiang.[7] The series, which as of October 2017 had fifty episodes, has accounts on Bilibili, Sina Weibo, and Youku.[8] Several of Gal-Or's social media profiles are under the name Ychina (meaning "why China?").[9] Infinity Group, owned by Amir Gal-Or,[5] and Will Hunting Capital (唯猎资本; Wéiliè Zīběn) had given Gal-Or's production company a 10 million yuan ($1.51 million U.S.) investment. By October 2017 the series, which began in December 2016, had over five million subscribers in its social media platforms.[8] About 70% of the viewers, as of 2017, were female.[5] The initial video, by that month, had over four million views.[8] Tang stated in 2017 that multiple advertisers began using the series.[5]

Coco Liu of the South China Morning Post wrote that FRI "helped to grow the online profiles of many expatriates."[10] Tang wrote that the series "propelled [Gal-Or] to nationwide fame".[5] Charles Liu, a senior blogger of The Beijinger, characterized some of the videos produced by the FRI as "predictable responses expected of foreignness, which in turn is predictably well-received by the Chinese public."[11]

See also

References
  1. "微信发布在华"老外"用户大数据：六成人用微信支付" (in Chinese (China)). 中国新闻网. 2017-05-17.
  2. "Raz Gal-Or". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  3. "The Totem (November 2017)". Canadian International School of Hong Kong. 30 November 2017. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  4. Han, Li (2018-06-28). "Nut Cases: How Foreign Viral Video Stars Are Defying Stereotypes". Sixth Tone. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  5. Tang, Frank (2017-11-25). "How the Israeli who captured Chinese hearts plans to turn online fame into fortune". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  6. Allen, Kerry; Williams, Sophie (2021-07-10). "The foreigners in China's disinformation drive". BBC News. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  7. Ma, Qian; Deng, Xianlai (2017-10-22). "Young Israeli entrepreneur finds his future in China with expat-friendly platform". Shanghai Daily.
  8. Pan, Mengqi (2017-10-05). "Foreign faces win netizens' hearts". China Daily. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  9. "Israeli entrepreneur shares "unlocking China" stories in Tel Aviv". Xinhua. 2018-09-05. Archived from the original on September 5, 2018. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  10. Liu, Coco (2017-08-21). "How expats are cashing in on China's internet celebrity boom". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  11. Liu, Charles (2017-07-17). "Cultural Divide and Conquer: How Expats Are Exploiting Their Foreignness to Promote Big Brands to Chinese Consumers". The Beijinger. Retrieved 2020-02-08.

Further reading
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