Internet fame brings Gavin the meme boy to China

His first post, a video which featured the little boy introducing himself, has won over 450,000 likes and was reposted nearly 200,000 times.

“I really want to go to China and meet you, take pictures with you,” Gavin told his fans in the video, which ended with his iconic “fake smile”.

His dream came true one month later. Last Wednesday, Gavin announced through Weibo that he was invited by a Chinese fashion brand to visit China.

“I wanna go to the Forbidden City, and I wanna go to Chengdu to see the pandas!” Gavin said excitedly in a video.

On Saturday, he appeared at the Forbidden City wearing an emperor’s golden robe. Chinese netizens reacted with a warm welcome and didn’t forget to create new memes.

“Becoming a future emperor doesn’t make me happy,” One meme reads.

After Beijing, Gavin headed on Sunday to China’s southwestern city of Chengdu in Sichuan Province where he will visit the pandas’ natural habitats in the next few days.