30-second overview: Tseng Wen-han, born in Hualien in 1994, studied in the art class at National Hualien Girls' Senior High School and graduated from the Department of Animation at Taipei National University of the Arts. In 2015, he began running the YouTube channel "A-Han Posts Videos"1. Alone, he plays Liao Lifang, Ruan Yuejiao, Liao Lizhu, a buffet auntie: the whole cast of characters in a Taiwanese alley. His signature work, "Fortune-telling Auntie: Jiutian Xuannu's Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers," has accumulated more than 13 million views2. But in a 2022 Ghost Festival advertisement, the Vietnamese daughter-in-law character he played drew protests from actual Vietnamese daughters-in-law, and the ad was pulled. A Hualien boy had built a Taiwanese alley through impersonation, only to be asked by people inside that alley: "Why isn't this place mine?"
A-Han's force does not lie in how closely any single character resembles someone. It lies in the fact that he has practically performed an entire Taiwanese alley. A fortune-telling auntie, a Vietnamese daughter-in-law, a landlady auntie, a buffet auntie, a clueless junior-high girl, an irritating teacher, class leader A-Wei: the same person, the same face, switching accents, bodies, and stages of life. But that 2022 takedown taught him this: impersonating the alley and living in the alley have never been the same thing.
One Person Performing an Entire Alley
Open A-Han's YouTube channel and you may think it is a small theater troupe: fortune-telling auntie Liao Lifang, Vietnamese daughter-in-law Ruan Yuejiao, landlady auntie Liao Lizhu, a buffet auntie, a clueless junior-high girl, an irritating teacher, class leader A-Wei. All of them are played by one person1.
That person is Tseng Wen-han, born in Hualien in 1994. He graduated from the art class at National Hualien Girls' Senior High School and from the Department of Animation at Taipei National University of the Arts, and began running the "A-Han Posts Videos" channel in 20151. His signature work, "Fortune-telling Auntie: Jiutian Xuannu's Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers," has accumulated more than 13 million views on YouTube2.
Taiwan has no shortage of impersonators. But only A-Han brought an entire alley's "aunties" into the center of mainstream culture, and then was scolded back from that center by people in the alley.
A Hualien Boy from Animation
A-Han did not come from formal performance training. He studied animation at TNUA and began from character-making13. This matters: the Liao Lifang, Ruan Yuejiao, and Liao Lizhu he created are not "imitations of a particular real person." Rather, he disassembles the auntie at the alley entrance into facial features, accent, hairstyle, and gait, then recomposes them into an animation-like character.
He has said that Liao Lifang was inspired by the "jianghu-flavored women" he saw growing up: women with a rough, worldly charisma. He condensed their catchphrases, the way they drew their arched brows, and the line "Come, Auntie will tell your fortune" into one person4. The eye trained by animation is not looking at an individual person, but at the shape of "this type of person."
That is also why viewers feel that "even the sponsored content is good" when they watch him do brand integrations. He is not reading copy; he is letting Liao Lifang read copy for the client5.
Liao Lifang at the Golden Bell Awards: When an Internet Character Takes the National Stage
In October 2022, the opening video for the drama category of the 57th Golden Bell Awards featured Bowie Tsang playing five roles, alongside A-Han as Jiutian Xuannu Liao Lifang. The "Jiutian Xuannu landing ceremony" became one of the most discussed opening segments of that year's ceremony6.
A-Han later said in an interview that he had originally wanted to turn down the invitation. He accepted only because the organizers were willing to let him "recreate a classic character"7. An internet character that had grown out of the art class at Hualien Girls' Senior High School and TNUA's Department of Animation was brought into the opening film of the highest hall of Taiwanese television.
This was the first time a YouTuber's self-created character appeared as a protagonist in the opening of the Golden Bell Awards drama ceremony.
Ruan Yuejiao's Ghost Festival: Protested by the Very People He Impersonated
In August 2022, the hypermarket chain PX Mart invited A-Han to make a Ghost Festival advertisement. He transformed into three popular characters, including the Vietnamese daughter-in-law "Ruan Yuejiao." After the ad went online, Chen Feng-huang, president of the Taiwan-Vietnam Association, publicly protested, criticizing A-Han's imitation of a Vietnamese accent as "uglifying new immigrants" and "cutting into the hearts of new immigrants with a utility knife." The advertisement was soon removed89.
A-Han responded with a thousand-character statement. He said his original intent in creating Ruan Yuejiao was not to mock Vietnamese people, but that he really did have Vietnamese aunties and Vietnamese sisters as friends around him, and that he was writing the people he had seen and heard. He also wrote: "May we all be rational and tolerant, and may society accept different voices."1011
There is no single answer to the incident. Netizens split into two camps. One side argued that the value of democratic pluralism and tolerance lies precisely in the fact that one can perform and also be criticized12. The other supported the Taiwan-Vietnam Association, arguing that when a benshengren Taiwanese man uses a Vietnamese accent to sell Ghost Festival offerings, he is, in essence, consuming the vulnerable position of new immigrants9.
This was the most complex moment in A-Han's career. He became famous by performing an entire alley, and people in that alley began asking him: What gives you the right to play me?
The Landlady Auntie's Shirt: Between Imitating and Being Imitated
After the criticism, A-Han did not stop. He continued to introduce new characters such as "landlady auntie Liao Lizhu" and the "buffet auntie." In early 2023, netizens happened to spot a real grandmother on the street wearing the same floral shirt as the "landlady auntie" while taking her grandchild on a scooter. The photo went viral online, and even the market price of that shirt was dug up13.
This is the most paradoxical position of the impersonator: when your imitation is close enough, reality will align itself back to you. The grandmother on a Taipei street was not wearing Liao Lizhu's shirt. The shirt Liao Lizhu wore had always been the shirt of grandmothers on Taipei streets. A-Han merely framed it first and gave it a name.
Why A-Han? The Place of Taiwanese Impersonation Comedy
Taiwanese impersonation comedy has its own genealogy: from the political impersonations of the Jiu Kong era, to the variety-show sketches of Kuo Tzu-chien and Hsu Hsiao-shun, and then to the internet age after the 2010s. What makes A-Han different is that he does not impersonate celebrities. He impersonates "nameless Taiwanese people": the fortune teller at the alley entrance, the woman who married into Taiwan, the one collecting rent, the one selling buffet food14.
These people originally would not have appeared on television screens. Through A-Han, they were seen as protagonists for the first time, and also, because they were seen, sparked controversy over "who is qualified to play them."
Jolin Tsai, Lulu, and artists of every kind competed to appear on his channel and ask Liao Lifang for fortune-telling; the Golden Bell Awards invited her to open the ceremony; advertisers lined up for him to perform sponsored content465. At the same time, however, the Taiwan-Vietnam Association, new immigrant groups, and netizens were all watching: will his next character step on someone again?
Comedy and Responsibility in the Alley
A-Han's story has a counterintuitive core: a Hualien boy who graduated from animation and had no formal performance training relied on his powers of observation toward "aunties at the alley entrance" to single-handedly bring socially marginal characters in Taiwan to the Golden Bell Awards opening. Then the real-life prototypes for those characters publicly demanded that the work be taken down.
This is not failure. It is evidence that Taiwanese comedy is growing up.
When Liao Lifang can stand at the Golden Bell Awards, Ruan Yuejiao will inevitably be protested by the Taiwan-Vietnam Association, because they are equally representative. The closer comedy draws to a community, the greater its responsibility. How A-Han films his next video is not only his own question. It is a question of whether Taiwanese impersonation comedy as a whole will develop a new ethical sense.
That Hualien boy is still in the alley. Only now, every time he plays an auntie, the entire alley is watching how he performs her to the end.
- A-Han — Wikipedia — His real name is Tseng Wen-han. He was born in Hualien in 1994, graduated from the art class at Hualien Girls' Senior High School and from the Department of Animation at Taipei National University of the Arts, and has run the "A-Han Posts Videos" YouTube channel since 2015.↩
- A-Han Posts Videos | Fortune-telling Auntie: Jiutian Xuannu's Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers — YouTube — One of A-Han's signature works. At the time of retrieval, it had surpassed 13 million accumulated views and was an iconic video for the channel.↩
- A-Han Posts Videos — Official YouTube Channel — A-Han's own YouTube channel, where the full list of his self-created characters and works can be viewed directly.↩
- Inspiration with hidden layers: A-Han reveals the origins of Liao Lifang — GirlStyle Taiwan — In an interview, A-Han describes the process of conceiving Liao Lifang, the "one and only designated sister of Jiutian Xuannu," adding context to the character's creation.↩
- A-Han can become whatever he plays; even his sponsored content is good — Newtalk News — Reports audience reactions to A-Han's sponsored videos, explaining how his character-building ability extends into commercial collaborations.↩
- Bowie Tsang plays five roles in Golden Bell opening, sparring with A-Han — Central News Agency — Reports that the opening video for the drama category of the 57th Golden Bell Awards was a collaboration between Bowie Tsang and A-Han, and that the "Jiutian Xuannu landing ceremony" received broad acclaim.↩
- Golden Bell opening film praised as 100 points; A-Han originally wanted to turn it down — SET News — In an interview, A-Han said he nearly declined the Golden Bell opening invitation, and only accepted because the program was willing to recreate classic characters.↩
- Ad portraying new immigrants sparks controversy; A-Han hopes society will accept different voices — Central News Agency — Reports the removal of PX Mart's 2022 Ghost Festival advertisement after the Taiwan-Vietnam Association publicly protested that A-Han's "Ruan Yuejiao" character uglified new immigrants.↩
- Ruan Yuejiao criticized: cutting into the hearts of new immigrants with a utility knife — CTWANT — Quotes in full Taiwan-Vietnam Association president Chen Feng-huang's criticism of the "Ruan Yuejiao" character, providing the position of new immigrant groups.↩
- Full statement: A-Han speaks for the first time after Taiwan-Vietnam Association protests his portrayal of "Ruan Yuejiao" — SET News — Publishes A-Han's thousand-character response to the Taiwan-Vietnam Association in full, allowing comparison between his intent in creating the character and public criticism.↩
- Criticized for discriminating against Vietnamese spouses after playing Ruan Yuejiao, A-Han reveals his thoughts in a long post — CTi News — Supplementary reporting on A-Han's long-form response, presenting his personal position that "may we all be rational and tolerant."↩
- Taiwan-Vietnam Association criticizes discrimination; netizens: the value of democracy lies in pluralism and tolerance — United Daily News — Summarizes the polarized social-media responses after the incident, showing the tug-of-war in Taiwanese society over "who is qualified to play new immigrants."↩
- A-Han's landlady auntie has a matching outfit; grandmother wears the same shirt while carrying grandchild on scooter — EBC Entertainment — Reports the amusing incident in which a real grandmother wearing the same floral shirt as A-Han's character "landlady auntie Liao Lizhu" was photographed and uploaded by netizens.↩
- Even Jolin Tsai bows to Auntie Han: a survey of A-Han's classic characters — JUKSY — Surveys A-Han's representative characters from the channel's early period through his rise to fame, supporting the point that most of his impersonation targets are "nameless ordinary women" rather than public figures.↩