The fake parenting expert Chinese daughters invented to talk to their parents

A fictional parenting expert became a viral sensation after giving Chinese daughters a voice their parents were more willing to hear.

Who gets heard inside the family unit? Originally published on Global Voices The AI-generated “Lao Zhao” on a tranquil background of lotus flowers. Image sourced from the WeChat account “Old Zhao Explains Reasoning.”

Composed by Oiwan Lam. Fair Use. At first glance, Old Zhao looked exactly like the kind of man Chinese parents might trust.

His WeChat avatar showed a respectable middle-aged man in a suit. His articles came with serene images of lotus flowers, large fonts, and the solemn cadence of a family advice columnist who had seen it all. His bio listed an almost comically decorated life: a recipient of the 2008 “Touching China” Special Award, a specialist in parent-child relationships for over 30 years, a tireless helper of families.

The account was called “Old Zhao Explains Reasoning” (老赵讲道理). But Old Zhao was not a man. He was not middle-aged.

He was not a parenting expert. He was a young woman in her twenties with a phone, an AI tool, and years of failed conversations with her mother. In January, Xiaoshang (小尚), who lived in Chongqing, created the WeChat account after growing tired of the constant stream of articles her mother sent her: Warnings about being an unmarried woman and living alone, alarmist pieces about takeout food, and the dangers of not following the life path previous generations considered safe.

For years, Xiaoshang had tried to respond directly. She explained. She argued.

She wrote long messages. She tried to make herself understood. It did not work.

So she invented a man her mother might believe. Old Zhao’s articles did not scold young people for being lazy, selfish, unmarried, or insufficiently grateful. They scolded their parents.

One headline criticized parents who treated earning a low income or being single as a