‘China’s Trump’ told us how he went viral. And yes, it started as a bet

Employing the casual hyperbole of his presidential idol, the “Chinese Trump” gave our interview a 67 out of 10. He said it calmly. Cheerfully. With absolute confidence. Like people do when they’re standing in a megacity with fans seemingly on every street corner.

Here in Chongqing, southwestern China, population 32 million, business manager Ryan Chen has mastered an impression so uncanny that strangers stop eating lunch to look up, mid-bite, when they hear his voice. As we moved through the crowded, fog-rimmed October streets, the same day as Trump’s long-anticipated summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea, Chen’s fame became apparent.

Fans mobbed him like a Hollywood star. Another phone was thrust into his orbit. Another group photo. Another, “Can you do the voice?”

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