Chinese Viral Copywriting, Explained

❤️ 15/15

Don't write for yourself: take the user's view (Y-type), and pin down the reader's 'A point' first

A leading figure in Chinese copywriting methodology, Li Jiaoshou (Li Jing, a former Baidu VP), drew a key distinction: X-type vs Y-type copy.

- X-type copy = the writer's own view: piling on flowery words, symmetrical rhetoric, and fancy vocabulary to mask hollow content, often aiming to 'move the writer' — producing baffling 'self-indulgent copy' (zi-hai wenan).
- Y-type copy = the user's view: plain language, vivid imagery, straight to the benefit — it simply paints the scene already in the reader's mind visually, then asks for one simple action.

Good copy is Y-type. This runs the same direction as earlier lessons' 'clear beats clever' and Ogilvy's 'we're here to sell, not to admire our own prose' — swap showing off for a picture and a benefit the reader gets instantly.

⚠️Before you write, pin down the reader's 'A point.' Li Jiaoshou's A-to-B points: the A point is what the reader thinks *before* seeing your copy; the B point is where you want them to be *after*; the effect of copy = B - A. The most common mistake is fixating on the B point you want ('I want them to see my product as premium') while never learning the reader's A point (what they actually think, care about, and worry about right now) — so you talk to thin air. The fix: map the reader's A point (current beliefs / pain / objections) first, then design the shortest path from A to B — always start from the reader's real state right now.