Meet the “digital parents” giving millions in China a vision of family love they never had
In a video on Douyin, China’s TikTok, a middle-aged couple travel to visit their adult daughter who goes to school in a different city. They surprise her by showing up in a shopping mall, and gifting her with a winter jacket and a pink ukulele.
“We have missed you a lot,” the father says in the video, filmed from the daughter’s point of view. “If someone harms you, you must tell dad and mom,” the mother says. “No matter how far, we will come for you.”
This scene is entirely fictional. While their real-life daughter lives in the same city, Jiang Xiuping, 48, and her husband, 50-year-old Pan Huqian, have been creating these sentimental moments to comfort legions of adolescents and young adults who are searching for familial love online. Their account, named “Sharing everyday moments with our daughter,” has attracted more than a million followers on Douyin.
Fans call them their “digital parents.” The videos, which depict an idealized image of middle-class families, appeal to the unhappy children who have grown up without the same parental support. In rural China, tens of millions of “left-behind” children are typically raised by their grandparents, as their parents migrate to the cities for work. A preference for sons has led to daughters growing up under discrimination. The tradition of parents exercising absolute authority over their offspring also contributes to strained relationships.
