Why young Russian women appear so eager to marry Chinese men

IN THE EARLY stages of China’s history as a communist state, the Soviet Union was often referred to as Sulian dage, or Soviet big brother. China relied on it for weapons, funding and political support. In many ways the roles have now reversed. Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, this month in Beijing. China has been accused of propping up Mr Putin’s war machine.

Chinese nationalists are pleased with the new power dynamic. In recent months short videos have been popping up online which play to their feelings of superiority and continue a tradition of using foreigners to aggrandise China. They feature pretty young Russian women expressing their admiration for China and their desire to marry Chinese men.

The women—with names like Natasha and Sofia—speak fluent Mandarin. They complain that Russian men are drunk and lazy, while praising Chinese society and technology. For a Chinese husband, the (mostly blonde) beauties say they would be delighted to cook, wash clothes and bear children.

To Chinese men, it may sound too good to be true—and it is. The videos are deepfakes, produced with increasingly cheap artificial-intelligence (AI) tools. They are relatively easy to make using short samples of real footage. With dubbing and video-editing software producers can transform any woman into a Chinese bachelor’s dream.

Olga Loiek, a Ukrainian woman studying in America, was shocked to see her image speaking Chinese with the Kremlin in the background. She found dozens of accounts using her face. “I was disgusted and felt like my personal autonomy was violated,” she says.

The videos, posted on social media, have drawn hundreds of thousands of views. Some are used to hawk products or simply to glorify China. They have recently come under official scrutiny. Last month China’s main cyberspace regulator announced regulations which, among other things, require the explicit labelling of AI-generated fakes.

In recent weeks the videos have become harder to find. But nationalists’ pride over China’s new-found status as Russia’s big brother runs deep. And the fake Russian women were attracting their attention. Don’t be surprised if they make a comeback. ■

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