Ren Yueli (born April 13, 1988), better known by her nickname Xidan Girl (), is a Chinese

Mandopop Mandopop or Mandapop refers to Standard Chinese, Mandarin popular music. The genre has its origin in the jazz-influenced popular music of 1930s Shanghai known as Shidaiqu; with later influences coming from Japanese enka, Hong Kong's Cantopop, Ta ...

recording artist A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

and a previous

street musician Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pr ...

-turned

Internet celebrity An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social ...

Biography

From a poor village in

Zhuozhou Zhuozhou (), is a county-level city with 628,000 inhabitants in Hebei province, bordering Beijing to the north. It is administered by Baoding prefecture-level city. Zhuozhou has 3 subdistricts, 6 towns, 5 townships, and 1 development zone. Admi ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

, she migrated to

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

at the age of 16 looking for work. Struggling to get by, she was eventually forced to perform songs on a street. In December 2008, a video of her performing the song "Tianshi de Chibang" (天使的翅膀; "Angel's Wings") with a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Xidan Xidan (Chinese: 西单; Pinyin: Xīdān) is a major traditional commercial area in Beijing, China. It is located in the Xicheng District. The Xidan commercial district incorporates the Xidan Culture Square, North Xidan Street, as well as many ...

subway station, Beijing, recorded by a bystander, went viral online. As her name was unknown then, she was simply called "Xidan Girl" by Chinese

netizen The term netizen is a portmanteau of the English words ''internet'' and '' citizen'', as in a "citizen of the net" or "net citizen". It describes a person actively involved in online communities or the Internet in general.

s, many claiming to have been reduced to tears by her heartfelt performance. TV stations and journalists soon located her and she began performing on TV. In April 2010, Ren Yueli signed with Beijing New Run Entertainment Co., Ltd. In 2011, she performed in

CCTV New Year's Gala The ''CCTV New Year's Gala'', also known as the ''Spring Festival Gala'', and commonly abbreviated in Chinese as ''Chunwan'', is a Chinese New Year special produced by China Media Group (CMG). It is broadcast annually on the eve of Chinese N ...

, China's top-watched annual television event. Her life experiences were dramatized in a 2011 Chinese film ''Xidan Girl''.

Discography

*2012 album: ''Xidan Girl'' ()

Publications

Filmography

* 2013 — ''Yang Guang Liu Shou'' ()

References

* * * *

External links

A version of the original viral video, where she sang "Tianshi de Chibang" (天使的翅膀; "Angel's Wings") in a Xidan subway tunnelMusic Video of her 2014 single "Yuan Dian" (原点), end theme song of the anime ''Hua Jiang Hu zhi Bu Liang Ren'' (画江湖之不良人)
{{authority control Chinese Mandopop singers 1988 births Musicians from Baoding Living people Chinese Internet celebrities Singers from Hebei 21st-century Chinese women singers