Short videos bring Chinese culture closer to the world

Chinese and foreign vloggers who are interested in China and keen to share their experience in the country are using their lenses to show a true, multi-dimensional and lively China to the world on short video platforms.

Dianxi Xiaoge and her grandmother peel a melon in her courtyard. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

With 8.16 million followers on international video websites, Dianxi Xiaoge, a young woman who lives in Baoshan, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, is dedicated to sharing details of rural life through her homespun and bucolic blogs. Viewers watch as Dianxi Xiaoge plants and harvests vegetables, cooks local dishes, and hangs out with her family and neighbors.

Dianxi Xiaoge gained more than 1 million followers on international video sharing platforms in just three months after she opened accounts at the end of 2018. The videos range in length from four to 10 minutes, and struck a chord with international viewers, with some saying that the videos reminded them to love their own hometowns more and strengthen family ties.

Dianxi Xiaoge noted that traditional ethnic culture provides an infinite source of inspiration for her, and says she is preparing to shoot videos featuring the daily lives of ethnic groups in her hometown.

Other video bloggers, including Chef Wang, who is also a YouTuber known for his cooking videos, and Grandpa Amu, who has more than 50 years of experience as a carpenter and is an expert at creating exquisite wooden products using mortise and tenon joints, has also drawn a lot of followers on international video sharing platforms.

YChina was founded by a group of young people from around the world who live in China. They produce videos that introduce China to the world in a unique and interesting way. The head of YChina, Raz Galor, whose Chinese name is Gao Yousi, co-founded the group with three other people in 2016 when he was a student at Peking University. Today, YChina has several million followers.

In the beginning, Galor approached random people on the street and asked them questions about food, made-in-China goods, and variety shows, all closely related to the lives and culture of the Chinese people. His videos quickly gained traction among overseas viewers. Over the past few years, members of YChina have travelled across China to make videos about the daily lives of Chinese people. In one recent project, the team members went to remote and rural areas in Sichuan, Yunnan, Hubei and Zhejiang provinces to experience rural life.

China had 888 million online short-video users as of June, according to the 48th China Statistical Report on Internet Development. The average number of daily active users on Kuaishou reached 293.2 million, with 15 million short videos uploaded to the platform on an average day, and 26 percent of active users being content creators. In an average month, more than 180 million users are active on the international version of Kuaishou. Out of 1,557 national intangible cultural heritage items in China, 1,525 have been promoted on Kuaishou. The videos featuring traditional culture and arts, such as Peking Opera and Taijiquan, have been frequently liked and forwarded by international viewers, introduced Liu Zhen, vice president of Kuaishou.