Russian Model Kirill Dobrachev Loses 100,000 Followers After Racism Row Over Slanted-Eye Photos

Russian model Kirill Dobrachev, known as Kolin on Douyin, posted a series of videos titled "Days I Have No Job in China," in which he uses machine-translated Chinese to document his daily life. For example, he says, "I leave my home, sit random subway station, I arrive far, start open umbrella." This expression style attracted attention. His account began gaining followers steadily from June 2025, peaking at 1.12 million, with total likes exceeding 18 million.

Dobrachev had been posting on Douyin since February 2024, but initially used English voiceovers and subtitles, attracting few followers. In February 2025, he moved to Thailand and began uploading Chinese-dubbed videos titled "Days I Have No Job in Thailand." In May 2025, he moved to China and changed the theme to "Days I Am Looking for a Job in China." After going viral, he received modeling gigs and brand collaborations, including with the game Happy Match.

In July 2025, netizens unearthed old photos Dobrachev had posted on overseas social media showing him making a slanted-eye gesture, which they considered disrespectful to Chinese people and racially discriminatory. On July 19, Dobrachev responded in a text-and-image post on Douyin, explaining that the photos were taken years ago as a joke with friends and that he had no discriminatory intent. However, netizens felt the response evaded the core issue, and the comments section was filled with criticism. He subsequently enabled a do-not-disturb mode on his account, and his follower count dropped from 1.12 million to 1.02 million.

The machine-translated Chinese style has been widely imitated online. Ordinary creators and pet accounts have used Dobrachev's sentence structures to film their own life vlogs. For example, the creator Xiaobai Bai Bai You Bai posted a video about a foreign roommate's "Days I Have No Job" in Portugal, which received over 315,000 likes. A ginger cat account named Gungun posted "Days I Shower in China" and garnered 1.29 million likes. A dachshund account named Laibei Naiyou Weishiji posted a vlog titled "Days I Am Scalded in China" and received over 500,000 likes. The hashtag #DaysIHaveNoJobInChina has accumulated nearly 100 million views across videos on all platforms.

The survival logic for foreign bloggers on the Chinese internet is changing. Previously, foreign creators could gain massive attention with videos of first-time experiences, such as eating hot pot or riding high-speed rail. However, as more foreign creators have entered the Chinese internet, this identity dividend has gradually diminished. Some foreign bloggers have faced backlash over controversial remarks. For example, Li Meiyue, who once had over 7 million followers on Douyin, served as an interpreter during a live stream by foreign streamer Hyperthyroid Bro in April 2024. He used insulting comments about Chinese fans, and subsequently his social media accounts stopped updating.