Hush! BBStar Sister Furong is 'daydreaming'

By Wendy Liu (City Weekend)

Who the hell is Sister Furong? To answer, don't bother combing through pop singer and celebrity archives on Google or glue yourself to the glorious pop karaoke shows on TV.
She's another blogger turned amateur celebrity like the sultry and sensational writer, Mu Zimei.
Her detailed explorations into the sexual world of young Chinese men and women revealed that you don't have to be a Pepsi star or a Hong Kong actor to become famous on the mainland.
Sister Furong or Lotus Flower, as she likes to be called, quietly captured the spotlight with her gaudy photos and proclamation that she needs a man.

It is a comedy not without precedent - self-humiliation - but one of some subtle confusion: Is the joke on her or us?

Beginning early this year on the Qinghua and Beijing University BBS, a girl named 'Frjj' (Furong Jiejie) began to upload her photos.

Accompanying each photo was a brief diary entry. At first read they proclaimed, "I'm pure and noble (this is how my classmates describe me, which isn't my fault).' Harmless enough.
However, they began to take a much more self-aggrandizing angle when this seemingly average looking university student turned to comments like, "My life is now so annoying. All the time I am the focus on the street. Why do the eyes of the men fall hot upon me? I have no place to hide."

As her popularity grows, Sister Furong goes on to let her audience know that she is also a dance expert.

"I have a pair of beautiful hands which go harmoniously with my outstandingly slim body (1.66cm or maybe taller). My skin is as smooth as a baby and all of these talents have helped me to become a good dancer. I understand life in my dance; I am looking for my lover in my dance."
Sizzle and bristle does the BBS that other chat rooms co-subscribe and soon a debate begins to rage.

Is she funny simply because she doesn't know she is? According to Lotus Flower herself, the original idea was to set up a BBS posting to expose her natural beauty and grace... and ahem, to find a good lover.

Posting, websites, comments, water cooler chats and taxicab confessions criticize and laugh about her apparent and complete lack of modesty.

What difference does it make to Sister Furong? She's famous! Her site is checked for new photo postings daily and the inertia of her original fan base has snowballed into a viral publicity scheme that even the likes of Dan Brown's publisher would envy.

Whatever the comment or criticism, people admit that Sister Furong is brave.

A girl should have the right to be confident and at least at this point, we should respect her.
While the highbrow attitude she emits seems baseless given her common looks, whether she knows it or not, her popularity is exposing how glaring aesthetics dictate our behavior.

No one yet has asked, would she still be 'funny' if she were actually pretty? For now, everyone is playing along and no one knows if our Lotus Flower is in on it.

If Mu Zimei's accounts of sexuality can publish books, maybe Sister Furong's over the top poses can inspire. She may be dreaming but please don't wake her up.