Interview with Blogger Sensation Xiaxue (Wendy Cheng)

There are millions of blogs on the internet. Most go unvisited and unnoticed and often disappear from the world wide web in a short amount of time. Very few bloggers rise to the heights of stardom as did Xixaue with her own personal blog.

Xiaxue (Wendy Cheng) started writing in her paper diary which the new girlfriend of her ex-boyfriend eventually destroyed.

She took to the internet in 2003 as a way of expressing herself and keeping her thoughts out there on a more permanent basis.

Due to her self-proclaimed bitchy, provocative writing style and her absolute honesty, she soon began to attract viewers. She covered topics that most people could relate to but never spoke of….disgusting restaurant food, nasty taxi drivers, bad dates etc. She also has exposed her personal life and her interest in fashion and beauty. Through a survey she conducted, which attracted 6000 responses, she discovered her readers are mainly Singaporean, female, young adults, like fashion and who see her as an extension of their own voice.

Fans either love her or hate her and some of her posts have caused national controversies. Her celebrity has brought her many product endorsements and appearances in print, radio and television.

She is charming, honest and I am happy to have had the opportunity to talk to Wendy for Asiance.

ASIANCE: For those of us in the US who may not know you, who are you?

Wendy: My name is Wendy Cheng. I’m a Singaporean Chinese and I’m 27. I am the top blogger in Singapore, and have been since I started my blog way back in 2003. My blog has made me sort of famous in this little island. *blush*

On my blog I talk about everything from crushes on boys to posting narcissistic photos of myself to politics.

I also do videos, tweet, etc – anything that can get me attention on the internet! Well, except strip.
People here either love me or hate me, because I have opinions and I am never hesitant to say them!
A few months ago I got a little famous in USA because of my feud with a youtuber named Peter Coffin. He harassed me and I exposed his fake girlfriend. The news got on gawker, reddit, and the dailywhat etc. The post garnered 1760 comments.

ASIANCE: How did you come up with the name Xiaxue?

Wendy: Remember mIRC? I stole it from some other girl in that chat program coz I thought it sounded nice. It is Chinese and “xia xue” means snowing.

Not that I particularly liked snow or anything. If I had known I would become famous by that name I’d have chosen something less juvenile and pretentious!

ASIANCE: How did you start blogging and how popular has it become?

Wendy:I started in 2003 because it was the trend back then and I really liked the idea of an electronic diary where you can post pictures and pen down your thoughts.

Currently the blog has about 50,000 hits a day. At its most popular, during controversies, it hit 400,000 unique visitors before.

ASIANCE: So, you are quite a popular celebrity in Singapore but your popularity has spread. I have read you were invited to the US by Pixar. How was that trip?

Wendy: Pixar chose 15 top vloggers worldwide to go for a Pixar studios tour as well as preview Toy Story 3 before everyone else. I was one of the privileged ones to be chosen and it is humbling because Charlie Mcdonnell and Natalie Tran, both famous Youtube stars, were there as well!

It was immensely fun and I got to talk to the director and producer of Toy Story 3.

I guess they liked what I did for them because I was invited back again for the preview of Cars 2. This time I met John Lasseter. *fans self* I am a huge fan of his work!

Xiaxue

ASIANCE: What takes up most of your time?

Wendy: Seriously? I’m so boring. I spend most of my time pottering around the house and using the computer. Other times I could be attending events, filming, or just watching shows on the couch with my husband.

ASIANCE: Your husband is an American. How did you meet?

Wendy: The internet, what else? To cut our love story short, he found my blog (he refuses to say what he was googling for when he found it), liked me, sent me an email, chatted with me for 6 months via the internet, flew to Singapore, moved here for me while penniless, got a job here, proposed to me, and now here we are, married and living in Singapore!

ASIANCE: Favorite color?

Wendy: PINK! Nothing else comes close.

ASIANCE: Guilty Pleasure?

Wendy: Destroying people I hate online MUAHAHA. Oh dear that sounds evil. Ice cream then, just ice cream will do fine.

ASIANCE: Favorite De-stresser?

Wendy: I’m rarely stressed. My life is pretty awesome right now. 😀

ASIANCE: Pet Peeve?

Wendy: So many! My current one is when people write upside down smileys. Seriously… (: DON’T.

ASIANCE: Favorite food?

Wendy: Creamy pasta

ASIANCE: Fun fact?

Wendy: I am super short!! And only less than 10 people in the world know my real height.

ASIANCE: What is next for you? Where do you see yourself in five years?

Wendy: I hope I can be one of those hip moms!! I’m still trying to figure out what is an acceptable ratio of photos of my kid is to photos of me. Is 2:1 ok? Baby, baby, selfshot. Baby, baby, selfshot. I don’t want people to say I’m a bad mom!

That and probably expanding my career. The world needs more of me. 😛