TECH PRINCESS: C-beauty brand Pechoin made headlines in China on Wednesday for tapping heiress-turned-actress Annabel Yao as a brand ambassador.
A household skin care brand dating back to 1931, Pechoin is one of China’s largest privately owned beauty brands. The brand, known for its moisturizing cream, has been a leader in the recent rise of C-beauty. Its product range has also been extensively expanded to cater to China’s younger generation’s diverse needs in skin care.
Yao’s appointment, which garnered close to around 36 million views on Weibo, came after the brand cleared all accusations of adding banned ingredients to its products.
The younger daughter of Chinese smartphone and telecommunication giant Huawei founder and chief executive officer Ren Zhengfei, Yao made her society debut by attending Le Bal in 2018, wearing a beige gown by J. Mendel.
After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 2020, Yao returned to China and released her debut single “Backfire” a year later. Yao’s career choice at the time raised some eyebrows given her elder sister, Meng Wanzhou, was caught in a high-profile, now-dismissed extradition case.
Yao later appeared in a string of movies, TV series and reality shows and gradually expanded her popularity in China.