"Brand curator" — Phrase of the Week
A street vendor gives a new meaning to a recently invented internet slang phrase
Our phrase of the week is: “brand curator” (主理人 zhǔ lǐ rén)
Context
A street vendor has become China’s latest internet sensation. And he’s been given a nickname with a new phrase you probably haven’t heard of.
His real name is Li Junyong (李俊勇), a 48-year-old owner of a stall selling 6-yuan friend chicken cutlets in Jingdezhen (景德镇) in Jiangxi Province.
Li hit top trending lists on social media as “Chicken Cutlet Brother” (鸡排哥) after one of his customers posted a short video of him serving chicken at his stall on Douyin.
It clocked up over 2 million likes within hours of posting. And in the following few days, social media posts related to Chicken Cutlet Brother surpassed 2 billion views.
What makes him so compelling is his uniquely warm and intense customer service.
Li moves at high speed, skilfully preparing chicken cutlets over his wok, taking multiple orders from customers in quick succession, all while cracking jokes with them.
Li works with the intensity of someone running a serious operation.
And he prioritises students over other customers.
He charges them one yuan less than other customers (five yuan instead of six), and insists on serving all students from 4pm before he allows other punters to buy.
In addition to his online name, “Chicken Cutlet Brother (鸡排哥), Li has been given another nickname using a popular internet slang phrase: “Chicken Cutlet Curator” (鸡排主理人).
In Jingdezhen the chicken schnitzel vendor who suddenly went viral has been crowned by netizens as the “Chicken Cutlet Curator.”
景德镇卖鸡排的大哥突然爆火，还被广大网友封为“ 鸡排主理人。 ”
Jǐngdézhèn mài jīpái de dàgē túrán bàohuǒ, hái bèi guǎngdà wǎngyǒu fēng wéi “jīpái zhǔlǐrén”
And with that, we have our Sinica Phrase of the Week.
What it means
The phrase 主理人 (zhǔ lǐ rén) directly translates as “chief” (主) “manager” (理), “person” (人)— literally “chief operator” or “lead curator.”
It’s a phrase which emerged as a buzzword in 2023-2024.
It originally referred to boutique brand owners, professional managers, or entrepreneurs who integrate their personal identity with their online brand, and curate brand experiences and positioning for online audiences.
The concept of “brand operator” has expanded across retail, food and beverage, tourism, and other commercial sectors.
The official definition describes them as “transforming personal charisma into market competitiveness through product, strategy, and branding.”
The term evolved from the three-character phrase for “founder” (创始人) and became mainstream in 2023 with the explosion of the creator economy in China.
In December 2024, the phrase was selected as one of the top ten internet buzzwords released by the National Language Resources Monitoring and Research Center.
It’s become much more widespread this year.
But Chicken Cutlet Curator has turned that concept on its head. This “curator” has no polish or filtered gloss. No script or brand endorsements. And no high quality production.
Just authentic, entertaining, down-to-earth service, and great-tasting, cheap, crispy chicken.
Andrew Methven is the author of RealTime Mandarin, a resource which helps you bridge the gap to real-world fluency in Mandarin, stay informed about China, and communicate with confidence—all through weekly immersion in real news. Subscribe for free here.
