As I was watching some LPL vods yesterday, I learned from one of the casters that RNG’s UZI (Jian Zi-Hao) was voted as the person of the year by Weibo for 2019. This is incredible to see and only goes to show you how popular League of Legends is in China. Most likely, it also shows how popular esports is there.

In case you did not know, Weibo is a social media platform in China. It is similar to Twitter and is used by brands, influencers and celebrities. Most of the celebrities there come from the entertainment industry. Most of the LPL teams and players talk to fans with Weibo there.

Every single year, close to the end, Weibo has awards. Fans vote for them. One of the categories is Person Of The Year and Uzi wok with 485 million points. I do not know if this means 485 million people voted but it is simply amazing to notice.

LPL professionals are actually among the biggest of China’s celebrities. I believe anyone that plays and watches LOL games know who Uzi is. But from here to this award… What is even more interesting is that Clearlove (Ming Kai), retired professional and coach, was placed 6. We also had the beast player The Shy (Kang Seung-lok), a player I see as the best top laner in the world period, ended up placed eight. In the top 50, more pro LPL players appeared.

What you should know is that this award is not related just to esports or gaming. The competition for Uzi for this award included regular sports athletes, actors, musicians and more.

This is simply amazing and I just had to share the news. I mean, a professional League of Legends player as a Person Of The Year? With that competition? Just WOW.