Raz Gal-Or
רז גלאור
Born1994 (age 29–30)[1]
Israel
OccupationBusinessman
Known forfounding Ychina (Foreigner Research Institute China)
Parent
Chinese name
Chinese高佑思

Raz Gal-Or (Hebrew: רז גלאור; Chinese: 高佑思; pinyin: Gāo Yòusī; born 1994) is an Israeli businessman and Youtuber based in China. He first gained media exposure in China when he got a single appearance on television.[2] Since then, he has produced political content which supports the Chinese government[3][4][5] and in July 2021, BBC News reported that Gal-Or was working as a stringer for China Global Television Network.[6]

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. He attended the Canadian International School of Hong Kong,[7][8] and is an alumnus of Peking University,[9] where he studied international relations. Frank Tang of the South China Morning Post wrote that "his China journey was driven by the ambitions of his father".[2] Tang stated that by 2017 Gal-Or was embedded in a Chinese lifestyle and that his Mandarin was "fluent".[2]

Career

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.[9] It is headquartered in Zhongguancun, Haidian District, Beijing and was established in 2016 by Gal-or and a Chinese co-founder (Fang Yedun) who he met in university.[10] Coco Liu of the South China Morning Post wrote that FRI "helped to grow the online profiles of many expatriates."[11] Charles Liu, a senior blogger with the 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."[12]

In addition to FRI, Gal-or runs a video company called Ychina and operates several social media profiles under that name. [13] The chairman of YChina is Gal-Or's father Amir, an investor whose fund is backed by the state-run China Development Bank.[4]

Views

Gal-or has said the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is "totally normal" and has interviewed people in the area who state there is no forced labor in the region.[5] According to BBC News, Gal-or claimed in one video that he posted of his trip to Xinjiang that he was able to randomly interview locals, but he was apparently accompanied by a film crew from CGTN who later shared footage of the video on their YouTube channel.[6]

Reception

While his views have often been quoted positively by the Chinese state media,[5][4] they have also been criticized. According to Deutsche Wells, social media users have accused him of "making blood money" and of having "staged" his content.[5] Mareike Ohlberg, a Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund, classify some of Gal-Or's videos as propaganda.[5]

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. 1 2 3 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.
  3. ↑ Allen, Kerry; Williams, Sophie (July 10, 2021). "The foreigners in China's disinformation drive". BBC News.
  4. 1 2 3 Mozur, Paul; Zhong, Raymond; Krolik, Aaron; Aufrichtig, Aliza; Morgan, Nailah (December 13, 2021). "How Beijing Influences the Influencers". New York Times.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "How expat YouTubers depict China". Deutsche Welle. November 11, 2021.
  6. 1 2 Allen, Kerry; Williams, Sophie (2021-07-10). "The foreigners in China's disinformation drive". BBC News. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  7. ↑ "Raz Gal-Or". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  8. ↑ "The Totem (November 2017)". Canadian International School of Hong Kong. 30 November 2017. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  9. 1 2 Han, Li (2018-06-28). "Nut Cases: How Foreign Viral Video Stars Are Defying Stereotypes". Sixth Tone. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  10. ↑ Ma, Qian; Deng, Xianlai (2017-10-22). "Young Israeli entrepreneur finds his future in China with expat-friendly platform". Shanghai Daily.
  11. ↑ Liu, Coco (2017-08-21). "How expats are cashing in on China's internet celebrity boom". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  12. ↑ 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.
  13. ↑ "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.

Further reading

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