TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese YouTuber Chi Hsuan Tricking hit 10 million subscribers on Saturday (March 9), becoming the first from Taiwan to do so.
“I’m a Tricker and a Coach!” reads his channel bio. Wu Chi-hsuan (吳奇軒), who goes by the nickname “Chi Hsuan Tricking,” said in a CNA interview that he first became interested in the sport in 1993.
Wu said "tricking" combines kicking, flipping, and twisting. “It’s very liberating because you can create your own movements and style. Mastering one move gives a sense of achievement and makes you want to keep pushing yourself,” he said.
“Tricking originated in the U.S. and was introduced to Taiwan around the same time as parkour and capoeira. Because there was no Chinese name for it, early trickers promoted it under the name ‘extreme martial arts,’ but the two are not the same,” he explained.
In 2016, Wu uploaded his first YouTube video, CNA reported. His subscriber count grew slowly until 2022 when he tried using YouTube Shorts, which caused him to go viral. Last year, he accumulated more than 2.5 billion views and 73.39 million likes, and now he has reached 10 million subscribers.
Wu's videos have found a large fanbase overseas, especially in North America and Southeast Asia, CNA reported. Although he received flak from Taiwanese fans who complained about his overseas success, Wu said in a video that he would keep making content and ignore the haters.
As for his next step, Wu said he is already preparing to shoot action films. “Tricking can be perfectly combined with action movies. In the future, I hope to make international producers see that Taiwan has a lot of action talent, bring the entire team to Hollywood, and let the world see Taiwan through my efforts,” he said.