ICH, tech make Lame's Shenzhen trip amazing

Top-tier internet celebrity Khaby Lame, who has 259 million followers worldwide, visited Shenzhen from Sept. 18 to 19 for a two-day exploration that blended intangible cultural heritage (ICH) with hardcore technology. 

From traditional crafts in Luohu District to future technologies in Qianhai, the Senegalese-Italian creator — famous for his silent, palm-up reaction memes — used his signature gestures and surprised expressions to stage a cross-cultural celebration of Shenzhen.

An exclusive emoji for Shenzhen

Khaby Lame poses for a photo in Qianhai. Tan Yifan

This trip was not only Lame’s first deep dive into the city, it also brought unexpected opportunities. Marina Vilchinskaia, an EyeShenzhen vlogger and founder of the expat community “Hi Shenzhen,” accompanied Lame to explore Shenzhen’s cutting-edge tech and invited him to join the “Hi Shenzhen” community. Lame happily accepted and, together with Vilchinskaia, released a new sticker pack for the city called “Amazing Shenzhen.” In the images, Lame widens his eyes and spreads his arms against a backdrop of the Qianhai skyline and a line of robots. The sticker quickly became an emerging symbol for the city.

Amazing ICH experience

The first day focused on intangible cultural heritage in Luohu District. In a heritage workshop, Lame tried his hand at gold-thread flower weaving, the Tian family’s paper-cutting, and stone carving. That evening, a performance combining dance drama Wing Chun and the Iron Flower Fan performance pushed the atmosphere to a climax. Wing Chun dancers, with lightning-fast techniques, coaxed Lame into trying kung fu, while the Iron Flower Fan inheritor’s dramatic, spark-studded fan display drew sustained applause and Lame’s exclamation of “amazing.”

Hardcore technologies in Qianhai

The next day Lame visited Qianhai. At Guiwan Park and Qianhai Stone Park, he experienced AI applications such as unmanned boats, drone soccer, and drone basketball. Vlogger Vilchinskaia presented him with cultural and creative gifts embodying Shenzhen’s character: a baseball cap emblazoned with “EyeShenzhen” and a Shenzhen Metro cultural IP mascot, “Tie Bao.”

He then visited the newly opened Qianhai Block V in the northern district of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub for a hardcore tech tour. Led by EyeShenzhen’s international vloggers, Vilchinskaia and Cyntia Midori Yamauchi, he watched robots demonstrate precise tasks, tested the massage function of a smart ergonomic chair, and tried a climbing robot device designed to assist walking — each product felt like a door opening to a new world.

Lame tried a climbing robot device designed to assist walking. Chang Zhipeng

He also sampled technologies from local companies, posing for a photo with a panoramic camera and trying on a limited-edition 3D-printed sneaker. After the two vloggers demonstrated a palm-print payment function, he gave a thumbs-up and said, “Beautiful!”

At the outdoor space of Qianhai Block V, a troupe of dancing robots stole the show. As the robots moved rhythmically to the music, Lame mimicked their moves and danced alongside them.

Lame mimicked a dancing robot's moves. Chang Zhipeng

In addition, through a set of comparison images, he learned how Qianhai had, in just 15 years, transformed from a tidal flat into a new international urban center. He marveled, “The speed of development here is simply beyond imagination. Seeing so many top-tier robots in Qianhai today was an eye-opener; even more pleasantly surprising was receiving an exclusive talent card. I sincerely suggest that all my fans visit Shenzhen at least once in their lifetime to witness this city’s development with their own eyes.”

Lame’s Shenzhen visit followed the now-classic “cultural experience plus content co-creation” model for foreign influencers in China. Through his wordless physical comedy, he dissolved cultural barriers. Behind the spectacle is Shenzhen’s open embrace of global creators, using both technology and culture to attract international talent. When a global influencer meets China’s “Silicon Valley,” this journey — from “speechless” to “amazing” — becomes a vivid footnote in Shenzhen’s story of building an international talent capital.