\n<\/p>\n
Yang is not the only victim-turned-livestreamer to find both opportunity and controversy in this space.<\/p>\n
While no official figures exist, similar cases have drawn public attention in recent times, with some former victims of crime and hardship turning to livestreaming as a means of reinvention and, for some, survival.<\/p>\n
The practice of livestream hosts sharing their stories or selling products while referencing personal hardship is often described in Chinese as \u201cmai can\u201d – which translates to \u201cselling misery\u201d.<\/p>\n
Analysts told CNA that there is a growing \u201csympathy economy\u201d on Chinese social media, where trauma becomes both content and tool for monetisation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Many livestreamers have learned to work algorithms that reward emotional engagement, turning moments of empathy into streams of revenue, experts added.<\/p>\n
Yet critics warned that as imitation multiplies, viewers grow desensitised – leaving the truly vulnerable struggling to be heard in a marketplace crowded with curated suffering.<\/p>\n
Yang was born in a village in southwestern China\u2019s Guizhou province. She was kidnapped by a neighbour when she was five, and later sold to a family in Hebei province, thousands of kilometres up north, for 3,500 yuan.<\/p>\n
The case drew national attention in 2021 when Yang came forward and reported her ordeal to Chinese police.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her abductor Yu Huaying was sentenced to death for trafficking Yang and 16 other children between 1993 and 2003, and was executed at age 61 in February.<\/p>\n
Yang managed to reconnect with her biological sister on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, where she actively shares stories of other missing Chinese children under the handle @yangniuniu2021 – while promoting products from food to lifestyle items, clothes and electronics like Bluetooth keyboards and tablets.<\/p>\n
Online, Yang has been described as an \u201cinternet celebrity who reunites families\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In an article published last December by Jiupai News, a local outlet in the central Hubei province, she has been described as a symbol of determination and reconciliation – someone able to turn personal tragedy into public advocacy by using her social media following as a platform to raise awareness about missing children cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In September, she shared the story of an 82-year-old man who had travelled from Hubei to Hebei province, still searching for the child he lost three decades ago.<\/p>\n
Back in June, she shared a video of a 31-year-old woman nicknamed Bo Lie, who recalled being taken from her grandmother and older sister when she was five.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing an influencer isn\u2019t my end goal,\u201d Yang told Jiupai News. \u201cI want to do more and become a beacon of hope for those searching for their missing loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that in the future, there will be thousands of Yang Niuhua coming forward and working to bring their traffickers to justice, just like what I did,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n