Li Ziqi (vlogger)

Li Ziqi (Chinese: 李子柒; pinyin: Lǐ Zǐqī; born 6 July 1990), birth name Li Jiajia (Chinese: 李佳佳; pinyin: Lǐ Jiājiā)[2] is a Chinese video blogger, entrepreneur, and Internet celebrity.[3] She is known for creating food and handicraft preparation videos in her hometown of rural Pingwu, Mianyang, Sichuan, often from basic ingredients and tools using traditional Chinese techniques.[4][5][6][7] Her YouTube channel has more than 2 billion views and has a total of 14 million subscribers as of 11 January 2021.[lower-alpha 1]

In this Chinese name, the family name is Li.
Li Ziqi
李子柒
Li in 2017 making a dress with grapeskins.
Personal information
Born (1990-07-06) 6 July 1990
Pingwu, Mianyang, Sichuan, China
NationalityChinese
Occupation
WebsiteLi Ziqi's Weibo
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2017–present
Subscribers14.1 million
(17 January 2021)
Total views2.1 billion[1]
100,000 subscribers 2018
1,000,000 subscribers 2019
10,000,000 subscribers 2020

Early life

Li was born on 6 July 1990 in Sichuan, China. She was orphaned at a very young age.[8] In an interview with Goldthread, Li stated that she moved in with her grandparents after her stepmother mistreated her.[9]

Career

Li started posting her videos on Meipai in 2015.[10] Initially, Li made her videos by herself, but her video editing skills at the time failed to "capture the creativity" she tried to express. In 2016, one of Li's videos titled Peach Wine caught the attention of a video-making platform CEO, who featured the video on the platform's front page, which soon elicited more followers for Li's channel. As of June 2020, she has 11.7 million subscribers on YouTube, over 26.3 million followers on Sina Weibo,[11] over 3.5 million followers on Facebook,[12] and has inspired many bloggers to post similar content.[13][14][10][15]

Her mainland audience includes urban millennials.[16] Li's popularity may be attributed to fugu (复古), a growing appreciation in modern China for traditional culture.[17] In an interview with Goldthread in September 2019, Li stated "I simply want people in the city to know where their food comes from."[9]

A majority of Li's videos focus on traditional foods and antiques.[18] Besides food preparation videos, other popular videos of Li's include creating makeup and dresses from grape skins.[19] Li rarely speaks in her videos, and the sounds of nature, cooking, and calm music are most prominent. Hemispheres magazine stated, "The only narration is friendly banter between Li and her grandmother, but the sounds—the singing of birds, the crunch of frost underfoot, the thwack of a cleaver, the sizzle of frying garlic—lure you into an ASMR trance, so you don't even notice how many videos you've binged."[20]

In 2018, she launched a food brand under her own name and sold prepackaged food through e-commerce.[21]

She was awarded the People's Choice Award by the Chinese Communist Party's official People's Daily newspaper in September 2019. In August 2020, Li was nominated as a member of the All-China Youth Federation.[22][23]

Reception

State-run China Central Television praised her and stated "Without a word commending China, Li promotes Chinese culture in a good way and tells a good China story."[24] Scholars have described her videos as a channel for Chinese government soft power.[16][25][26] Li's videos have also been criticized for gentrifying contemporary rural life in China and false claim about Korean national dish Kimchi.[27][16]

Personal life

Li lives with her grandmother, who occasionally appears in videos,[28] in the countryside of Mianyang in Southwest China's Sichuan.[14] When Li was in fifth grade, her grandfather passed away, thus her grandmother was unable to pay for her education, this prompted Li to drop out of school at the age of 14 to work in the city, some of the jobs she worked as include being waitress (2016–2017), a music DJ (2007–2013), and singer (2006–2007).[29] In 2012, she moved back to take care of her grandmother, who was sickly at that time.[30]

At the start, Li sold agricultural products on Taobao as a way to earn a living before moving on to be a blogger.[29]

Initially doing all photography and editing by herself, as she gained popularity and experience, her recent online videos are produced with the help of a personal assistant and a videographer.[9]

Notes
  1. 2,074,306,543 views as of 26 December 2020.[1] Of her 122 publicly listed videos on her channel, the most popular has 78 million views, with the lowest view count at 2.9 million, and she has 13.8 million subscribers (as of 26 December 2020).

References
  1. "About". 李子柒 Liziqi. Archived from the original on 13 March 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020 – via YouTube.
  2. Che, Hui (30 December 2019). ""李子柒现象"背后的网红出海". Workers' Daily (in Chinese). p. 5. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  3. Yamaguchi, David (14 March 2019). "SANSEI JOURNAL: Everything Comes From China". North American Post. Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  4. Simonienko, Maxim (26 March 2019). "Une artiste chinoise propose un tutoriel pour fabriquer des outils de calligraphie". ActuaLitté (in French). Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  5. Shi, Yinglun, ed. (2 August 2018). "100 Chinese selected as "good young netizens"". Xinhua News Agency. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  6. Rahmil, David-Julien (5 March 2019). "L'une des plus jolies chaînes de YouTube serait en réalité un outil de propagande massive". L'ADN (in French). Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  7. "揭秘2017最火网红"古风美食第一人"李子柒". ifeng.com (in Chinese). 27 July 2017. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  8. Cao, Jing (31 December 2019). "All You Want to Know about Li Ziqi (李子柒)". DigMandarin. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  9. Wu, Venus (13 September 2019). "Exclusive: Behind the scenes with Li Ziqi, China's most mysterious internet celebrity". Goldthread. Archived from the original on 25 April 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  10. Dumke, Erin (13 April 2019). "Li Ziqi: The Online Celebrity Bringing Ol' School Traditions to the Modern World". Chinosity. Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  11. "李子柒的微博". Sina Weibo (in Chinese). Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  12. "李子柒". Facebook. Archived from the original on 18 March 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  13. Li, Weida (25 January 2019). "Top YouTube channels to learn about China". GBTimes. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  14. Doyen, Léa (3 October 2018). "This Chinese youtube girl teaches us how tofu is made". Emotions. Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  15. Nigari (7 May 2018). "La youtubeuse Li Ziqi et la tradition chinoise ancestrale". AgoraVox (in French). Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  16. Matei, Adrienne (28 January 2020). "Country life: the young female farmer who is now a top influencer in China". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 March 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  17. Yang, Chunmei (6 November 2017). "China's Cultural Revivalists: More Than Just Quirky Throwbacks". Sixth Tone. Archived from the original on 16 February 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  18. Zhang, Shen, ed. (12 December 2019). "美食博主李子柒为什么收获关注?中纪委网站这样说". Sina News (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  19. Li, Ziqi (24 August 2017). Making a dress with grape skins, what kind of experience is it?. 李子柒 Liziqi. Archived from the original on 18 March 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020 – via YouTube.
  20. Freeman, Ellen (1 December 2019). "How One Chinese Vlogger is Inspiring Armchair Wanderlust". Hemispheres. Archived from the original on 14 April 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  21. Wang, Jeffrey (6 August 2020). "Li Ziqi has Set Up a New Food Company and May Export Chinese Food". Panda!Yoo. Archived from the original on 23 August 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  22. Zhang, Wanqing (18 August 2020). "Chinese Web Celebs Appointed to Party-Backed Youth Organization". Sixth Tone. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  23. Li, Jill (12 August 2020). "As China's Vloggers Draw International Fans, Beijing Sees Soft Power Opportunity". Voice of America. Archived from the original on 23 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  24. Yan, Alice (11 December 2019). "Chinese state media joins rural life blogger Li Ziqi's millions of followers". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  25. Kim, Jo (5 May 2020). "Will Internet Celebrities Become China's New Channel for Projecting Soft Power?". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  26. Yan, Alice (11 December 2019). "Chinese state media joins rural life blogger Li Ziqi's millions of followers". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  27. "Escape to the country". Week in China. No. 480. 24 January 2020. pp. 13–14. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  28. Li, Ziqi (17 December 2017). A multi layer sole shoes for my grandma, in memory of good old days给奶奶做了双千层底，重温儿时一针一线的旧时光. 李子柒 Liziqi. Archived from the original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020 – via YouTube.
  29. Duan, Xiaoer (17 December 2019). "「農村網紅」李子柒衝出國際並獲中國官媒加持，你有看過她的影片嗎？" ["Rural Net Red" Li Ziqi rushed out of the world and was blessed by Chinese official media. Have you seen her video?]. The Initium (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  30. "【放過李子柒】李子柒爆紅幕後團隊與全商業版圖". chinaqna.com (in Chinese). 12 December 2019. Archived from the original on 22 June 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
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