Megan Wyatt

mbwyatt@theadvertiser.com

A University of Louisiana at Lafayette Chinese graduate student created a video to showcase Louisiana culture to those back home, and the video has since gone viral in China.

Xiangbo "Bill Lee" Li says that few people in China know about Louisiana or UL, and since he has taken a liking to his new home, he wanted to share what makes it special.

While the video has about 5,000 page views on YouTube.com, it has garnered more than 450,000 views on the website Youku.com, where it was posted as an alternative to YouTube, which is blocked in China.

The video includes a small group of people dancing in different UL and Louisiana settings, including the Martin Hall parking lot on campus, Parc Sans Souci in downtown Lafayette and the French Quarter in New Orleans. The dancers wear Ragin' Cajun T-shirts during the video, which uses the hit Chinese song "Small Apple" by Chopsticks Brother.

"I noticed this song, 'Small Apple' is very popular in China this year," Li says. "A lot of people are doing flash mobs all over China, but no one did in the States. That's how I came out with this idea."

Li is the president of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association at UL and has lived in Louisiana for three years now.

He organized the video shoot during the summer, where he taught a dance to interested friends and peers at the university and filmed at different locations.

"I really enjoyed the culture, food, music and people here," Li said. "So I decided to let more people in China know about Louisiana and UL Lafayette."