What Is Jiafei? The Viral Chinese TikTok Trend, Explained

The Jiafei TikTok trend has existed for almost three years now, and features many twists and turns as it continues to develop and more information surfaces online. What started as a trend of Chinese bot accounts reposting videos from Douyin of attractive Asian women, or selling products through weird advertisements that included malicious links, spiraled out of control.

Jiafei was also mentioned in various other derivative memes, including Skinny Girl Walking Sideways, and the infamous Jiafei Scream. But what is the true origin of Jiafei? And how did it grow so popular? What is the inspiration behind Jiafei and its prevalence in Douyin memes? All your questions will be answered here.

What Is Jiafei's Origin?

The Jiafei trend started in May 2021, when TikTok was flooded with a large number of Chinese bot accounts from Douyin, China's TikTok counterpart. These bots would repost videos that advertised household products in very absurd ways, with captions that included IP-grabbing links to buy the products. These videos have since been deleted, but some reuploads can still be found on TikTok, including one example posted on June 26th, 2021 (shown below).

The Jiafei Name and profile picture became significant because most of the bot accounts had the username "Jaifei", which is a mashup between two K-Pop mega-stars Meng Jia and Weng FeiFei of the group 'MISS A' (미쓰에이). Before being sabotaged by these bot accounts, the name was commonly used to refer to both women in one name: Jaifei.

Is Jaifei Real?

For years, it was speculated that the profile picture of the 'Jaifei' persona was just a Photoshopped version of the two K-Pop stars Wang Feifei and Meng Jia. But, on October 16th, 2023, a model from Beijing, China, revealed that she was the person who was used in the Jiafei memes. She uploaded a video explaining how the meme used one of her selfies in 2020, and how she has become well aware of the memes being made with her face (shown below).

How Did Jiafei Grow So Popular Online?

The Jiafei trend rose to virality primarily due to the sheer number of bot accounts that were showing up on people's For You Pages. Eventually, during mid-2021, parodies started to surface online to mock the absurdity of the bot videos' sounds, visuals, and poor English translations. One example, posted by TikToker jiafei7 received about 39,600 plays in just ten months (shown below).

Another example includes the "Jiafei Scream" sound, seemingly advertising an anti-drip skirt. It was uploaded by another Jiafei parody account called jeifeiwoaini, and received 48,000 plays (shown below).

How Is Jiafei Used In Memes?

Jiafei gave birth to a wide range of weird meme trends. One of which, called the Jiafei Scream, originated from a TikTok of a woman cooking with an umbrella and screaming as a fire blows onto her face. The original video (shown below) was then remixed in a variety of obscure sounds that were used in Jaifei parody accounts.

"Skinny girl walking sideways" is another derivate meme from the Jaifei trend, which emerged in October 2021, as creators on Douyin started to reference the model unnecessarily walking sideways between things. On January 4th, 2022, matt.aep2 on TikTok posted a Jeifei edit that earned 54,700 plays in six months (shown below).

"Jiafei kidnapping" is another iteration of the Jaifei memes, in which Tiktokers speculated that the bot accounts were kidnapping anyone who clicked on their IP-grabbing links in their bios. One satirical video uploaded on November 10th, 2021, includes a video reply to a comment saying "Kidnap me now or I won't give you a Herb Cookie" (shown below).

For the full history of Jiafei, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.