China's Online "Hottest of 2009"

The final month of the year is traditionally time for end of year roundups, though it seems some Chinese internet sites couldn't wait for December. China Hush has compiled a list of the hottest instant celebrities on the internet in China in 2009, based lists posted on several Chinese-language sites.

Unsurprisingly, pretty young girls predominate. There's nice wholesome good-lookers like the “Candied Haws Beauty” of Xi'an, who became a sensation this year for... well, for being pretty. The 19-year-old tanghulu seller, whose real name is Kang Xiaohan, first garnered online fame on the BBS of Xi'an's Jiaotong University and her celebrity took off from there. By October she was all over the net and even making the front pages of Chinese newspapers. China Hush has a translation of an interview with her here.

Then there are figures like “the Yunnan Nude” (pictured at the top of this post). According to China Hush, back in 2008 the 21-year-old posted nude pictures of herself online in order to “voice her grievances and to find her mother who had gone away to find work.” She was back in the nation's online consciousness this year when “a dwarf named Beibei posted an advertisement seeking a marriage partner” and the Yunnan Nude agreed to marry him. Guess she didn't want a man who would overshadow her.

Others who made the “hottest of 2009” list were less salacious. There was the “Academic Cat of Peking University,” who supposedly regularly attended classes with students, and the Chongqing cop considered, “the most handsome traffic policeman.” If Beijing's boys in blue are anything to go by, I'm not sure how much competition there was for that last category, but there you go.

You can see China Hush's full list of what's been hot online in 2009 here.