Mike "Mikey" Chen (Chinese: 陳興; pinyin: Chén Xing),[1] better known online as Strictly Dumpling, is a Chinese-American YouTuber who owns numerous popular channels including the insanely popular mystery and paranormal channel Beyond Science and the popular food channels Strictly Dumpling and Pho The Love of Food. He also shares the Asian culture channel The Chen Dynasty and posts travel vlogs to the channel Mikey Chen.
About[]
Mike Chen is known to own at least 11 channels on YouTube. However, he mainly stays focused on food and traveling. Currently, Mike resides in an apartment in Redmond, Washington and owns a house in upstate New York.[2] A passionate foodie, he often posts his tantalizing meals on his mikexingchen Instagram account.
List of channels[]
Beyond Science[]
Beyond Science is Mike's first channel to reach a million subscribers. On this channel, Mike uploads videos about earth mysteries and strange phenomena that are not explained by science. He explores topics including ancient aliens that may have come in contact with earth and advanced human civilizations existing millions of years ago. Mike has attracted criticism for his open mindedness to some absurd sounding theories such as the hollow earth.[3] This was his most subscribed channel until it was surpassed by Strictly Dumpling in early 2019.
Strictly Dumpling[]
Strictly Dumpling is his main food channel that he created in 2013. Some of the earlier videos on this channel featured Mike informing his audience about authentic Chinese food, such as how to tell authentic Chinese restaurants from fake ones and popular western so-called Chinese dishes Chinese people do not eat.
Many of the videos on this channel are of him trying all kinds of exotic foods at restaurants from across America and also from his overseas trips.
The Chen Dynasty[]
Originally titled The Double Chen Show, Mike would be alongside Dan Chen to talk about Asian culture and traditions.
The name of the channel was changed to The Chen Dynasty after Dan and Yi left Mike on his own. The channel continued to release new videos even though Mike hosts it on his own, although the channel does still upload content, it seems to be months at a time.
Mikey Chen[]
Mikey Chen is Mike's personal vlog channel. It is mainly used for posting his travel vlogs, including trying food on his travels.
On this channel he has documented international journeys to over twenty countries and made videos showing behind the scenes of how he makes his videos.
The CheNews[]
Originally titled Double Chen News, The CheNews features weird and humorous news stories, mainly from China. This channel also has its name changed once Dan and Yi went their own way.
Awesome Toy Review![]
Awesome Toy Review! is an inactive channel created in July 2016 with Dan and Yi used for reviewing and playing with children's toys. The channel has not had any new content since Dan and Yi departed.
Beyond Science 2[]
Beyond Science 2 is a second channel similar to his original Beyond Science channel, but with slightly broader topics.
Cook With Mikey[]
Cook With Mikey is Mike's cooking recipe channel. This channel was originally titled Pho The Love of Food from its creation in 2017 until 2020, when its name was changed to Cook With Mikey. The channel features either Mike or his friends teaching the viewer how to cook certain food dishes. The foods featured on this channel are mostly of Asian origin, but also from other parts of the world.
Eat with Mikey[]
Eat with Mikey is an additional food channel created in November 2017 where he has uploaded videos of him trying Pizza at a restaurant in New York, eating the spiciest instant noodles in the world and when he got invited by Singapore Airlines to try out food intended to be served onboard their flights.
The Friendly Brain[]
The Friendly Brain is a flashcard animation channel. Although Mike does not appear on this channel, he mentioned it in a livestream on January 1, 2018 and also the videos on this channel happen to use the same links to Shen Yun performing arts in the description boxes as his other channels.
Mike Chen[]
His Chinese language channel where he makes vlogs speaking either in Mandarin, or in English with Chinese subtitles.
YouTube History[]
Mike Chen's earliest appearances on YouTube dates back to at least 2013 when he appeared on YouTube channels Off the Great Wall and TheRunList which are owned by New Tang Dynasty Television, a media company created by practitioners of the controversial Falun Gong spiritual movement, deemed a dangerous cult in China. On Off the Great Wall, he would be focused on discussing Asian culture. While TheRunlist, he would discuss news stories.
In 2013, Mike created his own channels Strictly Dumpling, and Beyond Science. 2014 saw him create The Double Chen show and a personal vlog channel, Mikey Chen. Chen left Off the Great Wall and TheRunList in 2015 to venture out on his own.
Mike briefly moved to San Francisco in 2016 with plans to work with some West Coast content creators, however this move was short lived as he moved back to New York state in 2017. Two of Mike's colleagues from New Tang Dynasty, Dan Chen and Yi Yang also moved with him across the country so they could continue making videos together, but they soon parted ways to be closer to their families in New York. Dan and Yi have not appeared in any of Mike's videos since.
When Mike returned to New York state, he bought a house and set up an office in Middletown. In 2019, he moved to Redmond, Washington and left the office in Middletown. However, he still owns his New York house and continued to use a Middletown PO Box address. However, in February 2020, he revealed that he has since closed this PO Box address and told his viewers not to send anything to it anymore.[4]
Personal Life[]
Mike was born in Xi'an, China, but migrated to America with his parents at a young age.[5] The first US state Mike lived in was Tennessee before he lived across four Midwest states.[6] He attended Truman State University where he majored in accounting with plans to work for the FBI. After his plans on joining the FBI did not come to fruition, he then worked for Morgan Stanley before working for New Tang Dynasty Television.[7][8]
References[]
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMjLBK2RsxQ&t=5m27s English Names vs. Chinese Names: Things You Didn't Know About Chinese Names
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMb9N9Fd6rE Moving to Seattle! FOOD ROAD TRIP!
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqgBLln97cs Debunk Therapy 3: Mike Chen's Hollow Earth (Beyond Science)
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9GYDoAfAj0&t=12m39s New York City SEAFOOD BUFFET & BEST Korea BBQ!
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20190607005058/https://grow.acorns.com/how-mike-chen-became-a-YouTube-star/ Mike Chen: Here’s What It Takes to Become a YouTube Star
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhjqD1PXFbs 100,000 Subscribers and 20 Random Facts About Me
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/8osxyo/hi_im_mike_chen_i_travel_the_world_trying_all/e05yymj/ Hi, I'm Mike Chen! I travel the world trying all types of local cuisines -- AMA about my travels, food I've tried, tips and tricks for planning a trip, etc.
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20190724010221/https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/13/strictly-dumpling-YouTuber-mike-chens-most-expensive-food-day.html ‘Strictly Dumpling’ YouTuber Mike Chen’s best and ‘most expensive’ food day ever