In the corridors of Zhejiang Media College, students often whisper about the girl in a beige knit sweater. When Tang Xintian walks by with her books, the loose hem falls just right, revealing a faint glimpse of toned abs. It’s no wonder she’s earned the nickname “waist fairy of ZMC.” Recently, new photos of her on social media have once again pushed her into the spotlight.
Old photos from a campus arts festival three years ago have also resurfaced. Wearing a formal gown, her waist-to-hip ratio created such a flawless curve that the designer of the dress couldn’t help but comment: “This gown was originally made for a 175cm model, but at 168cm, she pulled it off with the aura of someone 180cm tall.” With a figure like that, many say she looks every bit like a professional model.
But Tang Xintian doesn’t let the label “campus belle” define her. On her profile, the pinned video is a fitness vlog: she’s in a sports bra doing squats, her muscle lines sleek and precise. Wiping sweat with a smile, she says, “Don’t let the ‘belle’ tag fool you. These legs squat 100 frog jumps a day, and this waist is sculpted by planks.” A fitness blogger added in the comments that her body fat percentage is around 18%, the mark of an athlete, not simply someone skinny.
Unlike many beauty influencers who flaunt luxury goods, Tang Xintian’s fashion posts always carry a relatable touch. In spring, she shows how to style a $6 Uniqlo T-shirt into a Parisian look; in winter, she turns her grandma’s hand-knit pants into an Instagram trend. During a livestream “what’s in my bag” moment, she pulled out Vaseline from a pharmacy and lip balm from the campus store. “Students don’t have money to burn,” she said, shaking a $1 local eyeshadow palette at the camera. “Beauty has never been about piling up money.” This down-to-earth style helped her stand out. One video titled Outfit Guide for Curvier Girls broke 10 million views, where she boldly wore a crop top, showing her stomach and saying, “My waist is 62cm, but my thighs are 53cm — this is a real body.” The comments overflowed with relief: “So you don’t have to be stick-thin to be beautiful.”
When asked about being called “campus belle,” she tilted her head with a laugh: “Maybe people think I look like the heroine of a campus romance novel?” Then she grew serious: “But I want to be the heroine of real life.” That ambition was validated when she won first place in the student category of an international beauty competition, with judges praising her for “bringing warmth to beauty.” Since then, her social media has evolved into something of an “aesthetics classroom.” In one five-minute commuter makeup tutorial, she quipped while drawing eyeliner: “Whether your liner flies depends on how steady your hand is, but whether your confidence soars depends only on you.” The line went viral as a meme captioned “Tang-sis quotes: curing appearance anxiety.”
Most recently, a set of campus portraits sent her trending again. In a crisp white shirt and pleated skirt, a school badge pinned to her collarbone, the wind lifted her shirt hem to reveal her toned abs. The top-liked comment read: “I used to think a campus belle was a flower in a greenhouse. Now I realize true beauty is the wild rose that thrives under the sun.”
From candid snapshots around campus to becoming a beauty blogger with millions of followers, Tang Xintian has spent just three years proving that beauty is never defined by a waistline or a number on the scale. In one livestream, she held up a scale and laughed: “I weigh 52 kilograms, but every kilo is exactly where it should be.” At that moment, countless young women felt reassured: you don’t need to live like a photoshopped model. The most moving kind of beauty is real, alive, and full of vitality.
