A Mountain Village Girl Who Earned 1.8 Billion Won Selling Agricultural Products Was Actually a Celebrity Belonging to a Media Company

Emotional Appeal to Help Rural Areas Followed by Overpriced Agricultural Products Sales
Rural Life Revealed as Scripted and Staged

A Wanghong (Chinese online influencer) in China, who exploited the image of a 'poor mountain village maiden' to emotionally manipulate people and sell substandard agricultural products at exorbitant prices, has ultimately been sentenced to prison. She was a celebrity affiliated with a one-person media company, and her rural life was entirely scripted and staged.

On the 21st, local media including Fengmian News reported that the Public Security Bureau of Liangshan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province arrested 54 people, including 11 Wanghongs such as Liangshan Mengyang, who had 2 to 3 million followers, and officials from the one-person media company they belonged to, on charges of fraud.

Chinese influencer 'Liang Sanmengyang' (left), who has been posing as a poor mountain village maiden to sell agricultural products at exorbitant prices, and his real appearance.
[Photo source=SNS]

They are accused of producing fake videos, posting them on social networking services (SNS), appealing to emotions by urging support for struggling rural areas, and selling agricultural products at inflated prices, thereby illegally gaining 10 million yuan (approximately 1.8 billion KRW). In particular, Liangshan Mengyang attracted great attention by continuously posting videos on SNS showing her living brightly and optimistically while struggling with farming in a mountain village in the impoverished Liangshan region.

The incident began with Liangshan Mengyang, who gained popularity as a mountain village maiden. Since 2018, Liangshan Mengyang posted short videos on SNS depicting her life in a mountain village. Her videos, showing her living brightly and optimistically while struggling with farming without parents in the impoverished mountain village of Liangshan, quickly drew public attention. She had many male and female fans due to her simple and pretty appearance.

When her followers exceeded 2 million, Liangshan Mengyang sold agricultural products through online broadcasts, claiming they were "grown by her and her husband whom she met in the countryside." They achieved sales of 700,000 yuan (approximately 130 million KRW) in seven months by selling these agricultural products. Later, her followers increased to about 3.86 million, and Liangshan Mengyang became a famous star in China.

However, as images of Liangshan Mengyang wearing luxurious clothes were repeatedly captured, netizens raised suspicions. Subsequently, the public security authorities investigated and revealed that these individuals were celebrities affiliated with a one-person media company and had filmed videos according to well-organized scripts. It was also uncovered that the company had been buying cheap agricultural products from various places and falsely marketing them as local specialties to sell at high prices. The public security authorities shut down 14 companies operated by them, seized 20 tons of fake honey and other products left unsold, and froze funds amounting to 5 million yuan (approximately 900 million KRW).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.