As the deputy director of a county tourism bureau in Guizhou province, A Xiang-yi's job is to attract as many people as possible to her home region.

The underdeveloped Leishan county is home to people of various ethnic groups, of which Miao people account for 83.5 percent of the residents.

But in the past week, the 26-year-old ethnic Miao has found herself at the center of national attention as a poster girl on the Internet.