China beauty influencer pays off US$57,000 family debt; accused of faking cerebral palsy

A beauty influencer with cerebral palsy from southwestern China who paid off her family’s debt has faced accusations of faking her condition.\nLin Ling, 25, who is also known online as “Glutinous Rice Cake Lin”, was born into a rural family in Bijie, Guizhou province.\nAccording to the mainland media outlet, Hangzhou Daily, Lin was diagnosed with jaundice at birth.\n\nDue to her parents’ lack of medical knowledge, treatment was delayed and by the time she turned one, she had developed cerebral palsy.\nLin said that her twisted limbs and communication difficulties made her self-conscious from a young age, leading her to feel too shy to go out alone.\nHer father reportedly mortgaged their house and accumulated heavy debt, while her mother worked away from home, leaving the three children in the village.\n\nIn 2022, Lin was inspired by the growing internet culture and started her journey as a beauty influencer.\nSelf-taught, she struggled with her physical challenges, spending hours applying make-up with trembling hands, often poking her eyes while applying mascara.\nWith help from her friend Yangyang, Lin filmed and edited her own videos, recreating celebrity looks and developing her unique styles.\nHer creativity soon earned her more than 800,000 followers on social media, with fans praising her “delicate, clean and inventive” make-up skills.\nLin expanded her content, doing make-up for her mother and disabled fans, even dyeing her own hair.\n\nShe began live-streaming beauty product sales and accepting sponsored advertisements, eventually paying off her family’s 400,000 yuan (US$57,000) debt in just three years.\nHer 20-second video advertisements are reportedly priced at 27,000 yuan (US$4,000).\nHowever, Lin’s rise has attracted cruelty online.\nOne netizen accused her of faking her illness, writing: “This kind of disabled person’s comeback story is the easiest way to gain attention. A cerebral palsy patient could not possibly do such perfect make-up.”\nAnother person said: “She and her team should be ashamed of profiting from the illness.”\n\nIn response, Lin posted a video showing her disability certificate and said that she did not have any management team.\nShe said: “I just want to reduce the burden at home through my own efforts. I may have limited mobility, but my intelligence is not low. Anything that normal people can do, I can do if I try hard enough.”\nSupport quickly flooded her comment section.\nOne fan said: “Lin is already beautiful, and her make-up skills are so advanced. She is like a little fairy.”\nAnother netizen called her “a flawed jade, an angel with broken wings”.\nIn October, Lin opened her own beauty studio and plans to expand her business to support her family.\nA third online observer of her story said: “This is an ambitious girl. Her illness did not break her; it made her shine even brighter.”\n