Chinese state media joins rural life blogger Li Ziqi’s millions of followers
- YouTube star from Sichuan whose videos pull in tens of millions of hits does better job of promoting China than Confucius Institute, fans say
- CCTV says Li does not need translator to get Chinese story across to international audience
A woman from southwestern China whose YouTube video channel celebrating rural life is followed by nearly 7.5 million people has been hailed by state media for her role in promoting Chinese culture.
Li Ziqi, 29, from Pingwu in Sichuan province, started her video blogs on traditional food and crafts three years ago after giving up city life to return to the village where she was raised by her grandparents.
Li, who now looks after her grandmother, has a library of 100 videos that have been seen tens of millions of times by audiences across the world. Followers said she did more for selling Chinese culture than the Confucius Institute, the government-backed soft power promotional organisation with a presence in more than 100 countries.
She also has about 20 million fans on Weibo, China’s microblogging site, where a discussion about her contribution was started by network opinion leader Lei Silin on December 4 with an article that asked: “Why is Li Ziqi not exporting culture?”
He said that Li’s audience was on a par with global news networks such as CNN and she reached many overseas fans.
