The people behind the funny faces

These emojis created by an art student were downloaded by 4 million users in one day. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The emoji of his white cat has attracted many instant messaging app users in less than a year. Three series of the cat emojis have been downloaded a total of about 200 million times since they were launched in August, and Zhong now has about 500,000 followers on Weibo.

Each of his series of white cat emojis has been targeted at different users, he says, for the romantically inclined, for those on diets and for those wanting to extend thanks to anyone giving them money in digital red envelopes.

"Good emoji must be absolutely adorable or cheekily naughty," Zhong says. "Their expressions must be very vivid and the body language rich."

Those who use his emoticons predominantly range from those in their teens to the middle-aged. The obsession of Chinese with emoji has its roots in the kawaii (cute) and otaku (those who are social outcasts because of their obsession with something, often comics) cultures of Japan, he says.

"We don't go to parties or hang out with friends as often as Westerners do. Instead, Chinese communicate with friends using instant messaging. We're open and talkative in the online world. But we turn in on ourselves and are less expressive in the real world."