Posted by If you’ve spent any time in China and particularly with locals, you will definitely come across Douyin 抖音 or Chinese TikTok.
But wait, why “Chinese TikTok”?
The company behind the wildly popular social media apps is Bytedance and for reasons we can only speculate about *cough cough*, they decided to make one app exclusively for China (what I will call Chinese TikTok for the rest of this article). They then went and made an international version for the rest of the world. That is the TikTok you have probably heard about.
They’re two completely independent systems, that have nothing to do with each other. Also, the way that they are handled in terms of restricting certain content is quite different.
The only thing they have in common is that sometimes viral trends and dances spill over from international TikTok into the Chinese version and the other way around.
10 Chinese TikTok Accounts by WWAMs
So, now that we’re clear about the difference between the two TikToks, let’s dive right in. The following Chinese TikTok accounts are a great way to get a peak into the life of WWAMs and their families both in China and abroad.
Even better is that, falling down the rabbit hole this app is, you can totally justify it to yourself and others by saying it’s helping you learn Chinese. And that is entirely accurate when I consider how my vocabulary has expanded since I’m on there. While my ability to do any other productive tasks such as writing, watching series and sometimes even cooking has drastically decreased since. Oh, well.
So here we go:
1. 安波 Amber
Amber is an American WWAM who lives in the tiny town of Laishui in Hebei province in China. She shares a lot of content about life in a small Chinese village and her spoken Chinese is pretty perfect. So if you’d like to see her selling veggies at the local market or volunteering as mask adjuster (though we are unsure whether this doesn’t defeat the purpose of no contact), this is the account for you. Just to say, though, her account is veeery pro-China, so you make of that what you will.
Account name: 安波amber
2. 小诺诺的妈咪 Nuonuo’s Mum
I admit there’s a bit of nepotism going on here. Nuonuo’s Mum was my first WWAM friend in China. With a husband also from Inner Mongolia like mine, the four of us had some great times. She recently gave birth to Nuonuo, so on her account you will find a lot of cute baby videos right now. Just to say, her videos are mostly overlayed with music and no dialogue, so the learning Chinese excuse doesn’t apply. It’s still fun to watch!
Account name: 小诺诺的妈咪
3. 凯诺梦露夫妻 Kainuo Menglu Husband and Wife
Okay, so these two are couples goals. They are ridiculously beautiful people, it’s practically not kosher. If God made a WWAM couple, they’re it. Including their adorable child, this family would not be out of place in a model photo shoot.
They are currently based in Georgia, so they introduce you to that part of the world in between them just walking around looking incredibly stylish.
Account name: 凯诺梦露夫妻
4. BusyMonkey德国妈妈 Anna
Anna was busy blogging about her life in Bozhou, Anhui for a long time at China’s Lost Panda, now sadly defunct. She is also an amazing artist. Over a year ago, their family made the move to Germany to a tiny place near Frankfurt. With the move, she started a Chinese TikTok account sharing snapshots of her life in Germany and the activities she does with her mixed daughters.
I always enjoy watching their fun times. And you get an insight into the luxurious housing available in a small German town. There’s a pool. That’s all I’m saying.
Account name: BusyMonkey德国妈妈
5. Lisa Fu
Funnily enough, Lisa also lives in Frankfurt (which also is my birth town). I’m now wondering whether they’ve connected, hmmm. Anyway I digress. She lives with her husband in Mainhattan (as we call it – figured it out yet why? Let me know in the comments). She shares content from all across Europe and some very cool modeling gigs.
Account Name: Lisa Fu
6. 卡佳在中国农村 Kajia in the Chinese countryside
There is no shortage of Russian and Ukrainian WWAMs to be found on TikTok. To my surprise, I quickly learned that some of these accounts are total fake – including the Chinese men pretending to propose to their foreign girlfriend. However Kajias account I felt was genuine, since they have two kids together and that seems a bit excessive even for a fake account. Kajias account shares many videos about her doing things with her Chinese MIL such as going to buy furniture and more general about life in the Chinese countryside.
Account 卡佳在中国农村
7. 艾夏 Aixia in Türkiye
This is an interesting account. Aixia is Turkish and they have recently spent a lot of time in Türkiye. Fun fact: Part of the country belongs to Asia and the other to Europe. So I guess you can say a true cross-cultural WWAM. She posts about life in China and in her home country. Her mum’s reaction to her surprise visit (see below) was so adorable and heart-warming. All the feels, I promise!
Account name: 艾夏
8. 小美Bouvier
Bouvier is an American living in Shanxi province. She has a heart-warming bond with her daughters and shares content from their daily lives, such as cooking and playing piano.
Account name: (小美)🦋Bouvier
9. 德国甜甜 aka My humble self
In a move of shameless self-promotion, I incidentally also have a Chinese TikTok account. Since I don’t live in China anymore, the country doesn’t really feature in my content. The overall topic of my account is mental health and depression. And the odd dash of life in Europe. So come and find me, if this sounds like something you’d enjoy.
Account name: 德国甜甜
10. Bonus Account: 小花 (江西老表的尼泊尔妻子）
OK, so I know this last account isn’t technically a WWAM couple but it is a cross-cultural one. And I am simply obsessed with them.
Xiaohua’s husband got stuck in Nepal while traveling due to COVID. He then met his beautiful wife, they had a child and now live in Nepal for the long term.
If I’m perfectly honest her account isn’t super ground-breaking; she mainly does little dances while holding her cute baby with the husband just standing awkwardly in the background. And she mostly uses the same five pieces of music a lot of the time.
But I just love watching her happily dance away, as she seems like a really sweet woman. And what’s more, she wears the most stunning traditional Nepali outfits in many of her videos. I just think she’s one of the prettiest women I’ve ever seen. Not overselling this am I?
If you are not so interested in dance routines and ethnic fashion, but would like to see more of Nepal, you can also follow her husband (who looks barely 19 and so does she actually).
Account Name:
江西老表的尼泊尔妻子 (her dance account)
尼泊尔袁小花的旅行 (her husband’s travel account)
Right, dear readers, that’s it for now. Enjoy the rabbit hole I’m certain you will have been sucked into if you heed this post.
Let me know what you think of these accounts. Also feel free to share interesting accounts you have found, as this is not an exhaustive list by any means. Cheerio!
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