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From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

author:Observer.com

【Text/Observer Network Yan Shanshan】The carnival of the Qatar World Cup, the national football team did not go, and the Chinese Internet community was not absent.

In the opening match, the Qatari "little prince" in the stands contributed a stress-reducing emoji to the Internet because of his resemblance to the mascot "Raib", plus the atmosphere of "rich and troubled", and took advantage of the popularity of the quadrennial event and the resonance of user-created content in the Web 2.0 era.

The residual heat has not passed, Qatar's "Little Prince" entered Douyin on November 27, and the number of fans exceeded 10 million within 20 hours, and now it has reached 15.41 million. In the early morning of November 30, he quickly joined Weibo and Xiaohongshu, fully involved in Chinese social platforms.

While briefly becoming the "top stream", controversy followed: Why is he so popular in China? Are only Chinese netizens following him? Is the "wish" message of netizens a meme or a "blind royal worship"?

From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

Why "out of the loop" overnight?

Back on the day of the opener, disappointed by the host's defeat to Ecuador, Qatar's "little prince" unleashed his discontent in the stands while packing up his disobedient white turban, reminiscent of the flowing mascot Raib at the opening ceremony.

The live-action mascot earned him nicknames "Little Prince Raib", "Prince of Dumpling Skins" and "Prince of Wonton Skins".

For Chinese netizens, this "kicking something" expression, coupled with the news of the previous host "throwing 200 billion US dollars to host the World Cup", the reaction of the Qatari "little prince" was immediately given more meaning: "Is the banknote ability out of order", "Money is not omnipotent", "Is 200 billion spent in vain"...

From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

Because of conveying emotions and expressing opinions, this kind of meme that carries the culture of ridicule enhances the interaction and communication between netizens and netizens, and the radiation crowd moves from the World Cup audience to the pan-entertainment audience.

According to the fan portraits of gray dolphin data, the proportion of fans of the short video platform account of Qatar's "Little Prince" is equal, with the age of 25-30 years old, accounting for 41.22%, followed by 18-24 years old, accounting for 26.32%.

From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

Young people like to track popular Internet memes, and the meme does not test football attention, whether you watch the ball or not, you can express your opinion on this topic, Qatar's "Little Prince" meme has evolved from a World Cup "peripheral" to an integral part of Internet pop culture.

Especially with Qatar's embarrassing record - the first host to lose the World Cup opener, the host who has lost three consecutive games and accumulated zero points, the first team out of this World Cup... The memes will still come in handy after the opener.

Different from the Web 1.0 period, when the vast majority of users only acted as content consumers, with the network revolution triggered by the development of information technology, in the Web 2.0 period, the network became a general platform, and users can create a lot of value when they produce content.

In addition to text, speech, and emoji, emoji packs have become more interesting, more emotional, more creative, and more decompressing expressions. A few words from an Internet user can give Qatar's "little prince" a series of meanings that resonate widely in Chinese social contexts, and the meme culture has boosted his own "out of the circle".

From "Emoji Darling" to "Storm Center"

After a brief boom in entertainment, the topic surrounding the Qatari "little prince" has become complicated since he entered Chinese social platforms. People began to question why they should pay attention to him after the excitement of the opener passed. Are the remarks on social platforms of "taking in the heartbroken Qatari prince" and "seeking peace" brainless or playing memes?

Especially when a large number of messages of "asking for red envelopes", "asking for jobs" and "asking for reimbursement of air tickets" poured into the comment area of Qatar's "Little Prince" Chinese social platforms, more voices questioning "domestic fans blindly worshiping the royal family" began to appear.

From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

Some people even came to the conclusion of "dream girl carnival" and began to attack relevant netizens with the topic of women's status in Qatar, and the topic became sensitive and intense.

However, it can be seen from the latest comments with high likes in the comment area of the short video platform that the vast majority of Chinese netizens are just joking, not really blind to the point of expecting a member of the Qatari royal family who has never met to improve his life.

From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

Moreover, the so-called "begging" wishing message is really not "original" by Chinese fans.

In the comment section of Qatar's "Little Prince" Instagram account "afjalthani1", some Brazilian netizens reflected: "He thanks Chinese for his friendly message. Brazilians only write that they want to marry him and work, and I think he was scared. ”

This kind of meme message reflects the phenomenon that regardless of nationality, everyone's inherent impression of the mysterious Middle Eastern royal family is "rich".

Only Chinese pay attention to him? What is the direction of its social account operation?

In the wave of controversy, the identity of Qatar's "little prince" has gradually become clear.

According to the content of the CCTV interview, the full name of the "little prince" is Abdelrahman Fahd Al Thani, 16 years old this year, is in high school, and is currently on winter vacation. He revealed that he is more than one meter eight meters tall, and his favorite player is Ronaldo.

As for the term "prince", strictly speaking, Abdelrahman is not a prince, he is not the son of the current Emir of Qatar (head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces), but he comes from the Al Thani family and is indeed a member of the royal family.

Qatar is a monarchy, with the emir holding the highest power in the country, hereditary by the Al Thani family.

In Arabic-language media reports, he is often referred to as the "Qatari youth".

According to Dubai-based Al Arabiya, the Qatari youth's father is the late Fahd Jassim Al Thani, Qatar's former minister of economy and trade.

On Twitter and other social platforms, many of the popular Qatari "Little Prince" memes on the night of the opening battle are screenshots of the Chinese broadcast interface, which proves that the topic was first detonated in the Chinese Internet community, but it is not only Chinese netizens who follow him.

Well-known media in South American countries have also noticed Abdulrahman's popularity. Brazilian media "Metrópoles" and "O Tempo" websites reported on him, and Brazilian Whatsapp (instant messenger) had his memes. The Peruvian newspaper La República also featured cartoons with Chinese characters.

From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

Screenshot of the report on the website of the Peruvian newspaper La Repubblica

In addition, the record of breaking 10 million fans on Chinese social platforms has allowed him to gain the attention of Qatari media, which is quite a sense of "export to domestic sales".

On November 28, Abdul Rahman participated in the live broadcast of Qatar's Al Kass Sports Channel and talked about his experience of gaining attention in China.

From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

Abdelrahman said on the show that he was surprised that TikTok (Douyin overseas version) contacted him by email, and the other party wanted to open an account in his name. What surprised him even more was that the account attracted more than 10 million followers in less than a day.

By comparison, Abdulrahman's Instagram account had 230,000 followers.

It is worth mentioning that a glance at his Instagram comment section reveals that he has a large Brazilian follower, and they are even angry that the Qatari youth only recorded a thank you video for Chinese fans.

"We made him angry, but he thanked China."

"Brazil made him famous, he thanked China, it was a joke."

In order to appease these Brazilian fans, Abdelrahman thanked Chinese fans for sending Cristiano Ronaldo on the Instagram story (the content is only displayed for 24 hours), and congratulated Brazil on advancing to the round of 16 early.

From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

Unlike the style of greeting and sending blessings on Chinese social media, the 16-year-old has been active on his direct Instagram account after being swept up in popularity.

From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

A screenshot of a video posted by a short video account called "The Little Prince of Raib"

Not only did he change his profile picture to a meme with the signature "Be Yourself," but he also shared his World Cup stories in real time on Instagram Stories.

From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure
From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

Posting tidbits of an interview in slippers:

From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

Share your thoughts on the sport of football:

From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

Send a terrier to mock Germany for not qualifying for the group stage and going home early:

From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

The original picture shows the German team covering their mouths to protest FIFA's ban on wearing the "One Love" rainbow armband before the German team's first match.

From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

After Abdul Rahman entered a number of Chinese social platforms, the outside world also began to pay attention to the operation trend of his Chinese account. According to the gray dolphin data, its short video platform account is classified as "government affairs", and the fan increase node is November 28, and the speed of fan growth has slowed since then.

From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

Most of the content currently posted by related accounts is: Abdul Rahman appeared in English to greet and thank Chinese netizens, and sent college entrance examination blessings to students in the third year of high school in the comment area.

From "top stream" to storm center, Qatar's "little prince of wonton skin" Internet adventure

Although Abdelrahman himself has not started live streaming on the short video platform, some merchants have smelled the business opportunity, and stores on e-commerce platforms have successively listed mobile phone cases, sweatshirts and other products printed with his emojis, but the sales are not high.

As for Abdelrahman's Chinese social account, some people guess that it will adopt a marketing monetization model, while others believe that it will become an official tourism promotion account, and the direction of operation is still unknown. After all, his popularity comes from the Internet, and the controversy also comes from the Internet, and the wind direction of public opinion determines the direction of his account.

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