To the casual observer, the attendance by an eight-year-old American boy at a yearly conference for one of China’s biggest internet companies last week might have been an unlikely sight.

上周，一名8岁的美国男孩出席了中国一家互联网巨头公司的年度会议。这对普通观众来说，也许有点不可思议。

That child was viral internet star Gavin Thomas, known in China as “fake smile boy”.

这名男孩就是网络红人加文·托马斯，中国人称他为“假笑男孩”。

Images of him smirking¹ at the camera – first as a toddler, then as a youngster – looking confused or showing his trademark² uncomfortable smile have floated around the internet for years, becoming a staple³ on social media like Twitter and Reddit.

从学步阶段开始，一直到现在，加文在镜头前傻笑的照片已经在互联网上传播了好几年，成为推特和红迪网站等社交媒体上的重要内容。照片中的他或者一脸困惑、抑或是摆出标志性尴尬笑容。

Gavin’s success was helped in no small part by his uncle, the internet celebrity⁴ Nick Mastodon, who first started posting funny videos of the child at the age of two on the video platform Vine.

加文的成功在很大程度上得益于他的叔叔——网络红人尼克·马斯托东。加文的叔叔最早在视频平台Vine上发布加文的有趣视频，当时加文只有两岁。

But after Chinese social media users started making their own memes from Gavin’s photos posted on Instagram a few years ago, his popularity exploded.

自从中国社交媒体用户几年前开始用加文在Instagram上发布的照片制作“表情包”以来，他的人气开始大幅飙升。

A gif of Gavin's face, smiling awkwardly, might be used as many as 10 million times a day across China's various social media platforms, according to Ann Ding, founder⁵ and CEO of Dongtu.com, a major distributor of online gifs, told CNN.

动图宇宙（制作gif的公司）创始人兼首席执行官丁焱告诉美国有线电视新闻网的记者说，加文“尬笑”的动图表情包在中国各大社交媒体平台每天使用多达1000万次。

She estimated that all of the total number of Gavin related gifs used across platforms in China has easily exceeded 1 billion.

据她估算，各大平台关于加文的动图总数加起来超过10亿。

Gavin’s first Weibo account was set up in July, and now boasts more than 1.8 million followers⁶ who eagerly comment on updates from his daily life such as photos and live streams.

加文在今年7月开通了微博账户。如今，他的微博粉丝已经超过180万，粉丝们热情地评论着有关加文日常生活的更新，包括照片和直播等。

His debut⁷ on Weibo was widely reported by Chinese state media, and his first trip to China in August made headlines across the country.

中国官方媒体报道了加文在微博的第一次亮相。今年8月，他的第一次中国行也成为头条新闻。

He made the journey to China from his native Minnesota in August to meet fans and tour some of the country’s major attractions.

加文2018年8月第一次从家乡美国明尼苏达州来到了中国。他与粉丝会面，并游览了中国的一些主要景点。

“He absolutely loved the pandas in Chengdu,” his manager Byron Ashley said, who promised that Gavin would be “back soon”.

经纪人阿什利说：“加文尤其喜欢成都的大熊猫。”阿什利承诺，加文“很快就会回来（中国）”。

Tencent, who invited Gavin to its annual conference recently, even launched a sticker pack of Gavin’s facial expressions on China’s most widely used messaging app.

最近，腾讯公司邀请加文来参加公司年会，还在微信上发布了用加文的面部表情制作的微信表情包。

Gavin can also be seen on a variety of mugs, posters and clothing hawked⁸ on Chinese e-commerce sites.

加文不但被做成“表情包”，还出现在中国电商网站销售的各种马克杯、海报和衣服上。

All this shows how an easily recognizable Western meme has broken through language and cultural barriers to appeal to users halfway⁹ across the world.

这一切都表明，一张容易识别的西方“表情包”如何打破语言和文化壁垒、吸引地球另一边的用户。

“We discovered Gavin’s face being used on T-shirts being sold in China around the beginning of the year,” his manager said.

加文的经纪人表示：“我们在2018年年初发现，加文的肖像被印在了中国人销售的T恤衫上。”

“And that to us was the first indicator¹⁰ that we needed to start building a presence for him in China.”

“那时候，我们开始意识到要为他在中国开发市场。”

Now, more and more Chinese fans are jumping on his bandwagon.

如今，加文在中国的粉丝越来越多。

“Because he’s cute!” said Leya, a 20-year-old from Chengdu when asked why she is a big fan of Gavin. “Who could not like such a cute young boy?”

在被问及自己为什么是加文的狂热粉丝时，20岁的成都网友“Leya”说：“因为他太可爱了！谁不喜欢这么可爱的小男孩呢？”

Coogie,an 18-year-old from Shanghai, has been following Gavin’s Instagram account for years.

上海一名18岁的网民“Coogie”多年来一直关注加文的Instagram账户。

“Afterwards, I noticed a lot of people in China would use screenshots from his videos to make memes or short clips,” she said. “They were so cute and funny, and his memes became really popular.”

她说：“后来，我发现很多中国人用他的视频截图制作表情图片或者视频片段。这些内容可爱又搞笑，他的‘表情包’真的很受欢迎。”

39-year-old Cai Qianyi, who works in the media industry, said he constantly shares Gavin gifs online.

39岁的媒体从业者蔡千一（音）说，他经常在网上分享加文的动态“表情包”。

"I got to know him from the gifs other people sent me on WeChat. I saved the gifs to use as they are so appropriate to express myself," he told CNN.

他说：“我通过别人在微信上传给我的动态‘表情包’认识了他。我把这些‘表情包’存起来备用，因为它们太适合表达我自己的心情了。”

Chinese people, especially millennials, have latched¹¹ on to Gavin's signature smile, the gif of which is used to express forced positivity in uncomfortable situations.

中国人，尤其是千禧一代，非常喜爱加文标志性的微笑，这种微笑被用来在不适情形下表达一种“被迫的积极”态度。

Experts say Chinese people's love for animated¹² images in digital conversation is rooted in its culture of politeness.

专家表示，中国人在数字化对话中对动画形象的喜爱源于其自身的礼节文化。

"Chinese people tend not to be so blunt (in conversation) and are careful to avoid hurting others' feelings. But online communication is inherently straightforward¹³, so people like to use funny images to relax the communication atmosphere," said Liu Qian, Assistant Professor of Journalism¹⁴ and Communications at Beijing Normal University.

北京师范大学新闻传播学助教刘倩（音）说：“中国人（在对话中）往往不那么直言不讳，通常比较谨慎，以免伤害他人的感情。但是网络交流天然就是直截了当的，所以人们喜欢用搞笑表情包来放松交流气氛。”

As far as Gavin himself is concerned, he told CNN he is enjoying his fame in China.

就加文本人而言，他对美国有线电视新闻网的记者表示，自己非常享受在中国“走红”这件事。

"They love watching my pictures and videos, and they tell me I'm cute. Sometimes, they tell me they love me," he told CNN over email.

他在写给记者的电子邮件中说：“他们喜欢看我的照片和视频，他们说我很可爱。有时他们会跟我说，他们爱我。”