假笑男孩是如何在中國名聲大噪的?

If you've never heard of eight-year-old Gavin Thomas, you clearly aren't one of the millions of people around the world who have fallen in love with the young internet sensation.

如果你從未聽說過8歲的加文·托馬斯，那你肯定不是這個年輕網紅的全世界數百萬粉絲中的一個。

But it isn't in his native United States where Gavin has really hit the big time, that honor belongs to China.

雖然加文來自美國，但他並不是在祖國大紅大紫的，而是在中國。

Since creating a profile a mere four months ago on Weibo Gavin has gained an astonishing 1.8 million followers -- and the number continues to grow, along with his fame. On Twitter, by comparison, Gavin has a mere 450,000 followers.

加文在四個月前才註冊了新浪微博賬號，而現在他的粉絲量就已經達到了驚人的180萬--而且隨着他熱度的不斷增加，粉絲數量還在不斷增長。相比之下，加文在推特上的粉絲只有45萬。

Why is a young American, born in Minnesota and still in elementary school, an instant sensation in the largest country in the world?

爲什麼一個出生在明尼蘇達州、還在上小學的美國小孩兒，會在這個世界上人口最多的國家裏引起如此大的反響？

It's because of Gavin's unique facial expressions, which have become a hugely successful, viral meme.

這是因爲加文獨特的面部表情，已經成爲了一個非常成功、非常流行的表情包。

Gavin first made a name for himself in the US, when short videos of him playing with his uncle Nick Mastodon quickly became a hit online.

加文最初是在美國成名，當時他和叔叔尼克·馬斯托頓玩耍的一部短片迅速在網上走紅。

But it wasn't until Gavin's videos spread organically to the Chinese cyberspace, particularly one of him reacting with a nervous smile to a gecko being placed on his head, that his fame truly took off.

直到有一天，加文的視頻被傳到了中國的網站上，尤其是他對一隻被放在頭上的壁虎做出緊張的微笑後，這樣他才真正走紅起來。

"A gif of Gavin's face, smiling awkwardly, might be used as many as 10 million times a day across China's various social media platforms," according to Ann Ding, founder and CEO of , a major distributor of online gifs, told CNN.

在線GIF主要經銷商“動圖宇宙”的創始人兼CEO丁焱在接受CNN採訪時表示：“加文尷尬的笑臉動圖，每天會在中國的各種社交平臺上被使用多達一千萬次。”