Ugandan Rose blooms in rural China

Wearing a traditional Chinese bamboo-weaved hat, Adikin Rose Mary started her daily shooting of short videos at her home in a small village in Suichang, a county located in Southwest Zhejiang's Lishui city.

Known as Rose to Chinese internet users, the 29-year-old Ugandan girl has over 10.5 million followers on short video sharing platform douyin (Chinese version of Tik Tok), with total likes exceeding 130 million.

Rose's videos are mostly about making Chinese dishes at her home, a one-storey cottage with traditional stove that still burns woods.

The typical Chinese village environment, the foreign appearance, the fluent Mandarin with Suichang dialect and the well-made Chinese dishes make magic effects that really amazed Chinese internet users.

They described her as a foreign daughter-in-law who knows more about Chinese rural life and can cook Chinese dishes better than native Chinese.

But Rose finds everything natural.

"I don't think that is difficult because I married a Chinese man, who happens to be a chef, and what I did in the videos are all about my daily life," she said.

Dream realized

Born and raised in a big rural family in Uganda, Rose has been dreaming of living in places far from home since she was a child.

"I have eight siblings and it is really a big family. So I was thinking if all of us can live in a place away from our village, we can visit each other and meet new places," she said.

Her thought became more solid after she worked in a Chinese furniture factory in Uganda in 2011 and met Wu Haiqing, a Chinese girl coming from Suichang county.

"She was so nice and we soon became besties. She told me stories of China, about the cities and people there, and that arose my curiosity toward this mysterious oriental country," said Rose.

The more Rose learned about China, the more eager she became to visit and even live there.

Opportunity came in 2014 when Wu match-made Rose with her cousin in China and Rose determined to visit the country after communicating with this Chinese man on the internet for over half a year.

"It was like love at first sight. Although we have to use translation apps to communicate, language was never a barrier for us," she said.

They got married in March, 2015, and Rose started her life in China, something she had been dreaming of for years. She spent only three months to acquire Mandarin and she is much adored by the neighbors.

"No one treated me differently because of my skin color. They offered to teach me doing house works and cooking. It is like living at home, though I'm thousands of miles away from home," she said.

Like any grassroots couple that is striving for better lives, Rose and her husband, a poor chef living in rural China, had been working in big cities to earn more money for their family after their son was born in 2016.

Rose worked in a café in Hangzhou, capital city of Zhejiang province, and her husband as a chef. Their son was left behind in hometown, taken care of by their aunt.

They were faced with the dilemma between making money and accompanying their son. For them, staying at home means less money and poorer living condition, while making more money means staying away from their little son.

It was not until in 2019 when their son fell seriously ill and Rose quitted her job and returned home to look after him.

Internet power

At that time, internet economy is blooming in China. Short video platforms became new opportunities for people who are looking for keys to fortune.

Rose grabbed that.

Her initial idea was to share her life as a foreigner in rural China and the natural sceneries of her village. After some clips of her cooking went viral online, some friends of hers persuaded her to make it a profession.

Rose's husband, Wu Jianyun, was against this idea at first.

"The internet is so unpredictable and I am not sure what's people's reactions toward her. We are just normal people who cannot undertake much, and I don't want her to get harmed," he said.

Reality broke Wu's concerns.

After creating her official account in July, 2021, Rose became an internet celebrity overnight, and soon one of the top vloggers in China.

The liveliness and delicious food attracted audience in front of the smartphones and satisfied people's imagination of slow-paced pastoral life.

About 80 percent of her followers are females aged 30 to 50. They can't help but be curious about the legendary experience of this foreign girl, and are concerned about her daily life.

Rose is also fond of type of communication.

"On my 28th birthday, I had full screen of warming wishes. It was really touching and thoughtful," said Rose.

The videos bring her 4,000 yuan ($598) a month in regular and extra income when there are advertisements. The income is abundant for her family to live a happy life in rural Zhejiang, and even better.

Rose has bought the latest edition of iPhone to take better photos and videos of her son and had refurbished toilet in their decades-old cottage.

Their neighbors are also getting paid for lending out places for shooting, and the whole village is getting famous with Rose's popularity.

She is happy with the changes.

"I'm doing what I like and I can make money from it. That's enough," she said.

Rural charm

Much as Rose has gaining growing fame and money, the internet celebrity has never thought of leaving the village.

"I grew up in rural area of Uganda and has been living in rural China for almost eight years. I just love here better," she said.

She made friends with neighbors and even have BFFs who she can spend leisure time with.

Luo Mei lives no more than 50 meters away from Rose's home. She is one of her best friends in the village. When talking about her African friend, Luo could not stop praising.

"She is a barrel of laughs that can always make me happy. My little son also fell for her at first sight. Maybe this is destiny," she said.

They would hang out when Rose is free and do house works together.

"Life here is never dull," said Rose.

The village Rose lives in, Yecun village of Jinzhu town, is a mountainous place known for its ecology. Forest coverage has exceeded 80.8 percent, and a well-constructed road leads the village to the big cities.

And it is the environment that attracted Rose at the beginning before she came to China.

"My husband"s cousin showed me photos of the village, and I told myself, I like this place. So here I am," she said.

Back 10 years ago, Rose might not have imagined that she would receive such great attention in China, a country she had only heard of in friends’ stories.

Today, with over 10 million Chinese fans on the internet, Rose is still the girl back in Uganda, outgoing, humorous and always passionate for life.