Liziqi and Dianxi Xiaoge |Chinese KOL same but different
Liziqi and Dianxi Xiao Ge are both online celebrities (KOL's) in China and the world although they might consider as same, they are different. Their simple and yet abundant way of living present is wrapped in beautiful videos.
They both operate in the same niece and give their perspective: giving a peek at the local culture food and rural life in China. However, each one of them expresses it in a different way!I love new cultures and understanding local traditions that I've even decided to go for anthropology and East Asian studies. No wonder that Liziqi and Dianxi Xiaoge are the Chinese KOL (leading opinion leaders) who attracted my attention. Their fans describe Liziqi as Art and Dianxi as life.
In this post we will focus on Liziqi and Dianxi Xiaoge, what makes their videos to break the Internet, is their video considered as a cultural export? What is the difference between these two?
Liziqi Best Chinese Youtuber and artist
Liziqi is a Guinness Prize recipient who deserves to be recognized. The award was given for being the best Chinese YouTube for year 2020. This Chinese KOL has 14 Million subscribers on YouTube and 27 million followers in China. What makes her video break the internet then? In her videos she is combining traditional crafts with modern day technology plus an amazing story telling skills and we got a powerful 31 years old superwoman. We learn about village life, what do they cook, what is their tradition and how do they live.
Her video is like viewing a fairy tale story held in a distant village in the province of Sichuan.
Watching this gentlewoman energetic activities inspire my daily routine. When was the last time you picked up natural leaves for your herbal tea and build your own bench?
Reviewing her life story will tell us What made her a “Breaking the Internet YouTuber”
Liziqi background storyLi was born in 1990 in Minyang Sichuan china. After her mother and father got divorced, her father looked after her until he passed away when she was just a little girl. Her grandmother and grandfather decided to bring her to their house. While growing up in this Environment of Sichuan villages She learns from her grandfather the traditional ways of life including cooking, woodworking and agriculture. The result is a young woman with building skills that will not embarrass any hard labor and agriculture worker.
Practical examples:
1. construct an oven out of mud
2. Building traditional Chinese furniture from bamboo
3. Creating “Schola’rs four Jewels” calligraphy tools which are paper, brush, ink slab and stick.
4. Grow silkworm and make from it a cocoon and silk!
5. She sews a winter coat.
6. Making natural color and dying her clothes.
7. Create makeup out of nature.
8. Cooking vegetables and fruits from her garden
9. make her own wine.
- There are many chefs on the internet who are trying to produce Liziqi recipes - it's not a simple task!
Personally, I love the fact that she adds a personal touch to every one of her creations and that her products made from her natural surroundings.
Life in the big city
After her grandfather passed away, to make money to help her grandmother, she immigrated to the big city at the of age 14 years old. In the beginning she was eating bread and sleeping in the parks. She found a job as a waitress. Later on, she worked as an assistant to a DJ where she studied basic editing skills. This was her life till 2012. That was the year her grandmother's health got worse and this is the reason Liziqi decides to come back home. Beginning of her digital life
Liziqi opened a shop in Tao Be (e-commerce platform B2C) to sell fresh products, she has made a short video to promote it. That video was uploaded to a Chinese app called Meipai. A meipai's employee noticed her content and put it on the front page!
It got viral and this was the beginning of her journey to become one of the most important Chinese Wang Hong- Chinese internet celebrity also known as KOL key opinion leader
Liziqi is mastering the use of background lights, both natural and artificial and filters the image with a traditional look.
Her staff include assistance and cameramen. This has been criticized, how can it be that with so few people a masterpiece is created that does not embarrass a Hollywood enterprise?
She almost does not speak in her videos, simply showing and not telling and her inspiring skills are packed into a professional video. Her video shows us the process from growing food to eating it in the table.This is the main reason why this Sichuan girl Is breaking the internet.
Dianxi Xiao ge
Her real name is Dong Meihua and she was also born in 1990. She has started to create videos since 2016 after getting inspired by internet KOL such as the comedian Papi Jiang, and uploaded videos to YouTube since 2018.
Like with Liziqi, her closest family member got sick (her dad) and she decided to leave the life she built in the big city of Chongqing and come back to the village to be with her family.
Her idea was to promote and sell the local Yunnan food which is not familiar with China.
However, after she uploaded videos and gain fans, she decided to focus on her village life and food videos. It took her about 3 years to become an online celebrity.
The secret for her successful videos is her direct attitude and intimate videos. She speaks with us and communicate with her family. Most of the time she shows us how to cook local food, what her beautiful dog Dawang is up to and in the end we sit together to eat her cooked dinner and feel like a visitor. Her video touches our heart and remind us the time we spent with our families when we were young.
Are their videos consider as Cultural Export?
There is a big debate about rather Liziqi videos are showing cultural output and cultural export symbolizing the rural life.
In December 2019 the Chinese Sina Weibo platform was discussing on one hot subject: does Liziqi work consider as a Cultural export? This article got thousands of comments and rais the question, can a person become a symbol for an whole culture?
Some said that she does not represent the real life in the village and created an artificial product for the internet use.
高山青VIP Wrote that her video does reflect a part of the Chinese culture:
…” it must be clear that culture has multiple attributes, which are based on and match the social diversity of a country. Therefore, any phenomenon you see is part of society, and correspondingly, it will also be an integral part of the culture of this country
Another comment emphasis the important role she plays, made by 农特优选徐亚锋
“China needs more Li Ziqi. In the era of Internet information explosion, most videos, information, and advertisements are all visual. The appearance of Li Ziqi shows a clean, returning and natural life state in an aesthetic way, showing the harmony between food, life and people. It not only gives people visually vivid and beautiful, but also gives people spiritual comfort, even as an advertisement, it is also a kind of enjoyment”
Eventually, video has a lens and we see the story of the person who hold the camera.
In Liziqi and Dianxi Xiaoge we get a story, their interpretation of village life. Is it a cultural export? Every piece of creation is made by someone who bring its cultural background, if they choose to show us part of their culture and by doing so help us escape the reality and connect to the land, does it really matter?
The difference between Liziqi and Dianxi Xiaoge
Liziqi According to some articles, she earns over 23$ million dollars annually from her videos and products.
Both are inspiring women.
While Li shows us that everything is possible and we can stop the daily routine and watch her magic happened. We can learn the difference between them by comparing the video title names. Li is telling us the story of an ingredient. Each video is called “the life of”. We can understand the all process of winemaking from the stage of planting the seeds until pouring the wine into the glasses.
While Dianxi is writing the name of the dish she is going to make and we can learn how making it.
We admire Liziqi's clear minds and talented hands. Dianxi touch directly in our hearth. She makes us miss our family and appreciate the simple, humble way of living! Therefore, we find a solution, we will enjoy the Liziqi art while practising a practical xiaoge Dianxi lifestyle.