As Melania Trump returns to the White House, she’s winning Chinese fans

WASHINGTON (AP) - Joyce Yip, a 39-year-old entrepreneur in southern China’s Guangzhou, has a new celebrity crush: Melania Trump.

The two-time first lady has become an online celebrity in China, especially among women. That may be surprising, given her husband's hostility toward China, but social media posts reflect an admiration for her independence, her taste in fashion and how she's raising her teenage son.

And, perhaps most importantly, her stoic allegiance to President Donald Trump despite his misogynistic comments, allegations that he's had extramarital affairs and his being found liable for sexual abuse in a civil suit brought by a New York advice columnist.

"She looks heroic, elegant and resolute, so powerful and majestic, loving it so much," Yip wrote on the Instagram-like platform Xiaohongshu after the inauguration last month.

After the first lady wore a wide-brimmed hat to the inauguration, similar products appeared on online shops and knitting influencers on Xiaohongshu posted videos showing people how to make their own within 48 hours.

By China's conventional standards, women are expected to be supportive of their husbands and to focus on raising children. But Melania Trump’s streaks of independence also appeal to Chinese fans, as does her ascent from small-town Slovenian roots to the top of the world's social ladder.

"Chinese fans like her having both traditional and modern sides of a woman," said Jingsi Wu, an associate professor of media studies at Hofstra University in New York.

Both sides are on display in a 4-year-old video that showed Melania Trump refusing to hold her husband's hand as they disembarked from Air Force One. The video has scored more than 5 million "likes" on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and still generates views and comments.

Around half a million people liked a November post on Xiaohongshu that joked about how unwilling the usually reserved Melania Trump must be to return to the very public life of a first lady.  A satire in The New Yorker magazine meant to be critical of her marriage to the president received 1 million views on Bilibili, a YouTube-like platform, and only seemed to boost her popularity.

Almost 30,000 people liked a November post about a years-old interview Melania Trump and her husband did on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, saying their relationship was "super sweet."

Ge Yahan is among Melania's fans. The 24-year-old from Zibo on China's eastern coast calls Melania a mysterious lady who was brave enough to follow her dreams from a small town in Slovenia to the United States.

Her celebrity crush brings in a bit of pocket money too. She has been selling unauthorized copies of Melania's new self-titled memoir translated to Mandarin by AI on China's social media underground for eight yuan ($1.10).

Donald Trump has been openly critical of China's economic practices as barriers to America's financial success. He launched a trade war during his first term by imposing hefty tariffs on Chinese imports, adding more after he returned to office last month. He mocked the deadly coronavirus as the "Kung Flu," a racist term for COVID-19. Earlier this year, Trump claimed, without evidence, that thousands of Chinese immigrants are flooding the U.S. to build an "army" and attack America.

But Wu, the academic, said people in China often see U.S. politics as akin to a soap opera.

Pouring over details of leader’s lives is a novelty to many in China, where top leaders tend to appear only in tightly stage-managed public settings. Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan, who was a well-known singer before marrying Xi Jinping, has kept a higher profile than the wives of previous leaders, but the couple's lifestyle is still so little known that it's not clear where they live or whether they have a pet.

Rose LuQiu, an associate professor at School of Communication in Hong Kong Baptist University, said fans see Donald Trump as a winner, whose success the first lady shares.

"The more independent and accomplished she is - but still unwaveringly loyal to (Donald) Trump - the more it reflects his perceived success as a man," she said.

Huang Li, who works in public relations for the fashion industry and sells Melania Trump’s memoir online on the side, says she doesn't care about politics, but says she likes Trump for his hard work and the courage he showed by yelling "fight, fight, fight" after being shot during an assassination attempt in July.

Huang has sold more than 30 copies of Melania's memoir, which is not available in China. China's National Publications Import & Export Shanghai Co. is pre-selling English copies for 290 yuan ($40), and it’s not clear if there are plans for an official translation.

"People want to know more about her," Huang said.

Fans also like what they see as sacrifices Melania Trump has made to help her 18-year-old son Barron. Many have joked that she only agreed to move back to the "White House dormitory" to help with his career.

Wu said this appeals to Chinese fans. "Chinese pay extra attention to parenting," she said.

Melania's perseverance amid her husband's personal and political scandals resonates with fans even more.

"Melania is a woman who is low-key, very real, supports her husband in the back and stands with him when he needs her,” said Yip, the entrepreneur.

Like many admirers of Melania, Yip said she liked the president’s daughter Ivanka "during her highlight moments" eight years ago. But Yip now views her a traitor for testifying in her father's civil fraud trial in New York last year after being ordered by the judge to take the stand.  Even though Ivanka Trump revealed little, Yip and many other Chinese believe she betrayed her father.

"The rules of this society are that men are allowed to be disloyal, but not women," said Yip, "Melania is very loyal to her husband."