Here are five things you might not know about the famous Chinese influencer.

She was born in a far-flung village

Born in Mianyang, the second largest prefecture-level city of Sichuan province, Li Ziqi’s real name is actually Li Jiajia. After her parents separated, she lived with her father, who passed away when she was just six years old. Her grandparents decided to take care of her after discovering that her stepmother mistreated her. Under her grandparents’ care in the countryside, Li grew up making bamboo crafts and cooking authentic Chinese meals.

Li’s grandfather passed away when she was in fifth grade, leaving her grandmother as her sole guardian. When Li turned 14 years old in 2004, she dropped out of school to travel to the city in search of work.

She used to be a DJ

Li spent eight difficult years in the city, earning just 300 yuan (US$47) a month as a waitress, among other professions. To send more money to her grandmother, she learned how to perform as a DJ in a bar. But in 2012, her grandmother fell ill, so Li moved back to the countryside, opening an online apparel shop on Taobao. 

She filmed her first videos with her phone

Li first got the idea to produce videos from her older brother, who would post guitar videos on the social media platform Meipai, which is similar to Instagram. At first, she worked with rudimentary tools – her mobile phone and a basic video editing app – before investing in a tripod camera.

Now, she even has the help of a videographer and assistant, although she still directs her videos herself. She also experimented with different subjects before settling on depicting the daily lives of herself and her grandmother – which often involves cooking – in 2016. 

Although her video production quality might not have been so professional at first, the unique content of her videos attracted a steady following.

She faced controversy over food culture

But Li was involved in other food battles before that, too. One of her earlier videos, “Authentic Lanzhou Beef Noodles”, marked the beginning of her success, clocking almost 19 million views since it was published in September 2017. However, increased attention resulted in greater scrutiny and netizens began to speculate on the authenticity of her content, particularly her claims of solo production efforts. Li ultimately dismissed the rumours and released a series of outtake videos to prove that she did, in fact, film all her earlier videos herself. 

She’s an enthusiastic philanthropist 

Li has also been recognised for her philanthropic efforts in recent years. Besides donating her personal items for fundraising purposes to the annual Bazaar Stars’ Charity Night in 2017, she also passionately supports rural Chinese communities. She has partnered with Sina Yangfan Charity Fund to donate books and computers to underprivileged students, and has promoted local, village-grown fruits in her widely-viewed videos. 

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