The first time I heard of Ziqi Li was from my coworker, an Indonesian Chinese, whose Chinese is so limited that she always consults me regarding the Chinese characters, movies or TV series. When she approached me the other day with Ziqi Li’s name, I thought it is just another actor/actress or singer she has a penchant for. The googling of Ziqi’s name returned with some of her pictures and information that I was not familiar with, making me think that she is just one of many cooks who introduces home style cooking on Youtube.
The name resurfaced lately when my husband started watching Ziqi’s videos on Youtube. Each single video she posted there boasted millions of hits and followers. Like many binge watchers, we whiled away our nights with her videos. What draws me to the screen is not her cooking, but the beautiful scenery in a remote backwater in Sichuan. I felt like being transported to the place where white clouds afloat above the misty valleys, and where pink lotus flowers abloom on the green ponds. What Ziqi lives in with her grandma is a home that is environed by an expanse of gardened vegetables, fruits and flowers, in the company of pet dogs, chickens, sheep, geese and pigs. It is against this idyllic setting that most videos are shot.
I don’t know what is roused in the hearts of millions of viewers. Stirring inside me is a longing to escape from the bustling city and to return to nature, where people are self-sufficient in a leisure environment. By sweat, people can harvest from the land what they sow and desire. Food is brought to table freshly off the field, the sumptuousness of which leaves them with more than they can eat. In Ziqi’s case, she pickles extra vegetables or meat for off-seasons and for different flavors. Flowers or fruits are dried and fermented into flower teas or wines. Life in winter could be just as extravagant with those in store. Though her cooking style, basically Sichuan cuisine, with lots of oil and hot chilies, is not to my liking, her aesthetic arrangements of food and the casting background are ingenious and provoking.
Ziqi is legendary. As a school dropout at age 14, she left her hometown to seek a better life in a big city. But it is back to the secluded home that she found her place and niche. In addition to being a cook, she embroiders. With cloth, wools or cocoons, she deftly hand-makes shoes, sweaters or quilts. As the only offspring or labor living with the old grandma, she toils in the field and does everything from plowing to harvesting. Surprisingly she knows how to make furniture, turning fresh green bamboos or logs to a tea table or a sink stand, with only the help of a few simple tools like a cutter, a manual saw, a screw and a ruler. And from the scratch, she mixed sand, soil and straws, used bricks into building a two-layered oven in which bread, chickens are baked by glaring woods.
Because of these videos, Ziqi becomes well-known locally and globally. What she presents to the world is not just her skills or a scene in southwestern China, but a lifestyle that evokes people’s aspirations and dreams.
看到暖冬在煽风点火啦,本周是“国庆歇斯底里显摆”周,请暖冬跟上,:))))
Did you mean "toils"?
在我看来,真正童话般诗情画意的生活,是不带功利心的,所有的行为是一种自然而然的流露,无需考虑是否会合他人心意,是否有点击量,是否会给自己带来知名度,是否会带来更多的经济效益,凡是需要考虑自身以外的各种外部因素,往往已经渐渐远离了童话般的生活了。
但视频确实拍得很不错,还是要赞赞赞的(^o^)/~
我也是最近听说过她,在你这里看了她的视频,很漂亮,很田园,但是摆拍的痕迹太重了。我特别同意你的这段话:
她拨动了人们心底里的那根柔弦,把人们对世外桃源生活的向往变成了现实,展现在观众面前。
妹妹文笔优美简练,直击要害,有空多写一点。
不能让小姑娘杀猪,做帮手接个血盆都不能想。猪那个叫声,吓死个人,还会电击般的抖抖抖……放血时滋儿一声……猩红的血沫子趁着热气,带着扑鼻的腥味……
李子柒要被咱逼吃素了:)
你的这个"杀猪"有意思,小时候看过人家杀猪的,李子柒要是杀猪,会如何?:)
真正的世外桃源是很少的,尤其在当今这么发达的社会。
洋葱妹妹周末快乐,问候你!
李子柒不长网红脸,背景朴素,增加了表面上的“可信度”,反之也更能达到让普通大众更易有可能的代入感。 我也爱看童话,呵呵~~~
回复 'warara' 的评论 : 不久前有人向我推荐她, 我开始关注。 其实她是先在国内的网络起步,然后得高人相助,在国内的平台圈了大批粉丝, 然后才扩展到中国以外的youtube,吸引不常去国内网站的观众(比如我们),和papi酱的路子差不多。
这里有一个关于她的专访: https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/36134923
更多关于她的介绍: https://posts.careerengine.us/p/5bc8a54735d3303518577046
> Stirring inside me is a longing to escape from the bustling city and to return to nature,
> where people are self-sufficient in a leisure environment.
I think you are right and even I have felt the pull from my old tribe.
A very well-written post, by the way.
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暖冬cool夏 发表评论于 2019-09-26 20:51:09
回复 'warara' 的评论 : 你好,warara,这个问题我也有过疑问,没有答案。我想国内的人可以翻墙,她也可以托人post到YouTube上吧。谢谢你的问题。
那么如何泡制网红呢?招数可多了。条件是先天条件要优质,然后再谈细节。
也喜欢看她的视频,喜欢看世外桃源的美丽, 虽然是做菜,但有一种不沾人间烟火的不真实感。
问好暖冬周末愉快!
要是告诉你她制作的食品在网上销售, 其实工厂以她的名义大规模生产的, 她的年收入也许也能把你的诗情画意打消一半。商业社会里面田园牧歌也是可以卖的。
(李子柒系列!祝各位新年快乐!!来源: Tiger666 于 2017-12-31 06:16:13)
国内不是不能上YouTube吗?难道观众都是海外华人?
暖冬周末快乐!
我非常喜欢李子柒的视频,美丽充实的田园生活,真是令人向往:)