Miriam Yeung Photo: VCG

More and more celebrities from Hong Kong and the island of Taiwan, including Nicholas Tse and Hank Chen, have swarmed to short video platforms in the Chinese mainland such as Douyin and Kuaishou to get closer to mainland audiences and get in step with online trends in the region. 

Many netizens have noticed that more and more Hong Kong and Taiwan celebrities have been active on short video platforms recently, covering topics such as food, tourism and dancing.

Hong Kong actor Michael Tao regained huge popularity in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong because of a viral video of his poor performance of the old Cantonese pop song "Daozhuan Diqiu" (lit: Reverse the Earth) on Douyin, the Chinese version of Tiktok. 

Tao sang the song at a commercial event in the mainland but he was out of tune in the whole time and his dance moves were quite out of fashion. The performance was shot and uploaded on Douyin, suddenly becoming a hit song on the short video platform.

Some Douyin users edited Tao's video and added more interesting elements, making Tao further go viral on Chinese social media. Each related video clip has gotten thousands of likes on Douyin.

Tao's popularity spread to Hong Kong, with tens of thousands of Hong Kong netizens saying they wanted to vote for him to make him the favorite male singer of 2021.

Tao's return to the public limelight would not have succeeded without the short video platform. The power of this platform is well known, leading to many well-known Hong Kong entertainers falling over themselves to shoot short videos.

Hong Kong actor Nicholas Tse, who has huge amounts of mainland fans, regularly updates his Douyin channel, often sharing various delicacies as he visits different places in the Chinese mainland.

Tse often interacts with mainland netizens through his channel, which has helped him earn lots of attentions and followers.

So has Taiwan comedian and actor Hank Chen, who has been trying to get a foot in the door in the mainland through vides of himself learning to dance or searching for delicious food.

Some insiders who are good at running short video channels told the Global Times that tasty food, especially street food, is a great way to connect vloggers and viewers, because it strikes directly at one's basic desires and needs, which is why many stars choose to upload these types of videos.

Hong Kong and Taiwan stars, including Hong Kong singer and actress Miriam Yeung, actress Cecilia Cheung and Taiwan actor Steve Ma, have also moved to the Chinese mainland to advance their careers.