A popular YouTuber from Taiwan who was once a vocal critic of Beijing has urged his fellow Taiwanese to experience life in Shanghai first-hand, calling the mainland metropolis a “super first-rate city” during a live-streamed visit aimed at challenging entrenched political narratives on the island.
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“People in Taiwan should come to Shanghai, take a look at the city, and experience life here for several days,” Holger Chen Chih-han said on Wednesday, on the second day of his six-day trip.
Chen, better known to his millions of followers as Kuan Chang – the Gym Boss – arrived in Shanghai on Tuesday for a self-funded tour that he said was meant to offer Taiwanese audiences an unfiltered glimpse into mainland Chinese society.
Once a staunch supporter of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Chen said his perceptions shifted after years of observing the mainland through social media which, in his view, revealed a stark gap between online reality and official messaging in Taiwan.
“The construction and development in Shanghai are super first-rate and as the city has advanced, quality of life here has also progressed,” Chen said in a live stream.
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Speaking to reporters before departing from Taoyuan Airport on Tuesday, Chen said he had once been deeply influenced by anti-Beijing rhetoric in Taiwan. “I used to think I’d never set foot in China. I hated it. I believed everything the DPP told me,” he said.