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Interview: After long hiatus, vlogger Li Ziqi reflects on culture, crafts, career

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E-mail Xinhua, November 14, 2024

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BEIJING, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- After a three-year hiatus, Li Ziqi, one of the most influential Chinese video blogger known for her poetic portrayal of rural life, was back in the public spotlight with new videos released on Tuesday.

"I still enjoy sharing aspects of my life and meaningful traditional cultural things with everyone," Li said during an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

One of her new videos showcasing her crafting a wardrobe using traditional Chinese lacquerware techniques received over 40 million views worldwide within just two hours. In another video, she turns a woodshed in the forest into a cloakroom.

Speaking of the break, Li joked that she has been "catching up on sleep" to compensate for all the sleepless nights spent editing in previous years.

Japes aside, Li's hiatus was more than just a time for beauty sleep; it was also a time for family, especially her grandmother. "When I was shooting and editing videos, it was mostly her who took care of me. She often brought me hot meals in the middle of the night," Li said.

Li, born in 1990 in southwest China's Sichuan Province, began creating short cooking videos in idyllic settings in 2015, quickly gaining widespread attention online.

Despite pausing video updates in 2021, she had amassed nearly 100 million followers across China's top four social media platforms by September 2023. During the three-year break, Li's YouTube subscribers grew from 14 million to 20.2 million, which is more than major accounts like "CNN" and "BBC." Numerous netizens left messages under her videos, asking her to come back.

She said she chose to resume updating her videos over a month ago to put an end to the mounting speculation about her comeback, and to share with everyone what she had been doing during the past three years and what her plans were for the future.

Li's videos are known for their unique rural charm, but making content is not without its hazards. Recalling her experience collecting lacquer from trees for her foray into the traditional craft, she shared, "When I was preparing to make this video last spring, I boasted to my uncle (cameraman) that I might be the 'chosen one' for making lacquerware. However, after my first lacquer job, my face swelled up to the size of a TV."

Despite numerous challenges, she apprenticed under Yin Liping, a renowned inheritor of Chengdu lacquer art, devoting several months to completing this lacquerware wardrobe.

Chengdu lacquer art is a national intangible heritage that had developed a highly refined decorative system as early as the Han Dynasty (202 BC- AD 220).

Li studied the art of carved lacquer with hidden patterns. Characterized as being restrained, reserved but rich in cultural depth, Yin describes it as "a very understated form of luxury."

The intricacy of this technique, Li explained, is that under normal lighting, the carved lacquerware appears black, but when exposed to strong light, its golden patterns emerge.

"I couldn't help but see a parallel between its essence and the spirit of our Chinese people," she said. "It looks low-key and modest on the outside, but in fact it is all-inclusive and wonderful inside."

When Li finished the wardrobe, which was decorated with the pattern of a Qilin, an auspicious mythological creature, it was Chinese New Year, and she gave it to her grandmother as a New Year gift.

"I actually specifically chose a pattern of a Qilin looking back because there is a Chinese saying that a Qilin looking back can dispel all illnesses," she said. "I just hope she can be healthy."

Warm and powerful, her videos have touched people around the world. This impact continues to be just as strong after her return.

"I'm a 56-year-old black American grandmother who lives in America, so glad to see you and Grandma is doing and looking well. It's 4:10 a.m. I'm so happy I decide to watch YouTube. We still watch some of your old content," wrote a follower on YouTube.

"It's unbelievable. Even though three years have passed, I can still recognize the calm your videos bring me. That feeling hasn't changed... A hug from Argentina," wrote another YouTube user.

Regarding her future plans, Li said the lifestyle she enjoys will be a theme of her videos. Over the past three years, she has taken up the piano, thrown herself into handicrafts, planted many tropical plants and fruits, and traveled with her grandmother.

Though silent for three years, Li stays connected to her followers' comments. She explained that a friend living overseas had been helping her gather and organize feedback from overseas netizens, regularly sending them to her via email.

While reading the comments from people around the world, expressing their blessings and feelings of longing in their own languages, she said, "I am particularly touched by this."

"They also shared some of their local customs, animals and plants, or some interesting childhood stories. I really enjoy reading these kinds of comments, and I miss them a lot," she added. Enditem