This picture shows Wang Xin attending a dance class at the Yiwu Industrial & Commercial College in Yiwu.—AFP
But soon enough, the Shanghai-based duo's posts and videos won hundreds of thousands of viewers, and retailers followed, vying for their endorsements. Like other wanghong, they are now leveraging their cyber-fame with an e-commerce fashion business which they launched earlier this month.
“I would just find a very interesting item that I would wear, and I would take weird photos of it and post it on the blog, and people really go and buy this stuff,” Wang Houhou said, almost in disbelief.
Internet consultancy Analysis International estimated China's wanghong industry was worth $7.7 billion last year and would double by 2018.
“A nobody can suddenly become prominent and average people can become celebrities,” said Yuan Guobao, author of “The Wanghong Economy.”
—A wanghong is born
The patron saint of wanghong is Shanghai's Jiang Yilei, 30, a graduate of a top China drama academy whose low-budget comedic video rants on everything from urban life to relationships went viral last year.
“Papi Jiang”, as she is known, now has 23mn followers and product endorsements including New Balance footwear and luxury watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre. Wanghong content is typically bland day-in-the-life livestreaming that earns small digital monetary gifts from fans.
But many wanghong are profoundly impacting China's bustling e-commerce as retail “influencers”, said Zhang Yi, head of mobile-internet consultancy iiMedia Research Group.
The phenomenon provides businesses with a powerful new, highly visual, promotional alternative and is eating into the business of Chinese internet goliath Baidu, which dominates online advertising. “Now someone will wear (the product), try it, use it, and persuade you to buy it,” said Zhang, who estimates wanghong now influence up to 20 per cent of online purchases.
“It's a booming business. Wanghong have their own followers who can easily be made consumers of the brands they recommend.” New incubator companies, formed to find and groom wanghong, are cashing in, such as Ruhan Holdings, which last year drew 300 million yuan in investment from e-commerce leader Alibaba.
Wang Houhou returned from studying English literature at a US university last year to discover that attractive fashions she saw overseas were hard to find at home. Young Chinese women lapped up her playful posts about navigating Taobao, China's Amazon, and other e-commerce platforms, and clothing brands began paying her and Wang Ruhan to showcase their items.
“If we hadn't started the blog, I would probably be in investment or finance,” said Wang Ruhan, 24, who never expected to be an entrepreneur so early in her life.
“We have to do this without much experience and just figure out the right way to do it.” She spoke as they prepared for the launch in Wang Ruhan's Shanghai apartment, with Ruhan dressing amateur models in various outfits and Houhou snapping pictures as music played and mist from a clothes steamer filled the air.