Young mural artist from China's Yunnan strives to bring positive changes to hometown with vivid paintings

Liu Zhicheng, a wall painter who was born after 1995 in Xingyi village, Lijiang city of southwest China's Yunnan Province, has been trying to bring changes to his hometown using his paint brushes.

Liu Zhicheng poses for photos in front of a wall painting. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

Liu, better known as Liu Xiaobei on Chinese social media platforms, returned to the village more than a year ago and planned to create 100 paintings on the walls of farmhouses in his hometown within two years as a kind of public service.

At present, Liu and his partner have created more than 30 wall paintings in the village with different themes, including vivid animals, cute cartoon characters, and picturesque landscapes. The short videos recording their painting process have been played tens of millions of times.

Initially, many villagers didn't understand the artform of wall painting, so Liu learned how to communicate with his fellow villagers. Eventually, he persuaded some of them to allow him to create paintings on their walls.

A painting featuring Chang'e, the goddess of the moon in Chinese legend. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

Gradually, villagers accepted the wall paintings, especially those with traditional cultural elements such as Chang'e, the goddess of the moon in Chinese legend, as well as Chinese Valentine’s Day.

"I tried to express my thoughts in my wall paintings and make these paintings well-received by most villagers," Liu said.

Liu has also managed to ensure that his wall paintings could blend into the surroundings. According to him, some senior villagers have a passion for giant pandas, so he created several wall paintings featuring giant pandas. During the process of painting one such painting, a villager tried to cut a small tree in the front of the wall selected for the painting, but Liu stopped him and painted a bigger tree on the wall, making the small tree and the wall painting blend together perfectly.

Photo shows a wall painting featuring cranes and lotus flowers. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

On this year's International Children's Day, Liu painted popular Chinese animated characters, including the Monkey King and Ne Zha, on the walls of a kindergarten in the village.

"Some children want to learn painting after seeing my wall paintings, which makes me feel that I am doing something meaningful. I encourage them and hope to sow the seeds of art and dreams deep inside their hearts," Liu said.

Photo shows a wall painting featuring a female character in Peking Opera. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

It usually takes Liu about three to five days to complete a simple wall painting and seven to 10 days to finish a complex one. Liu's artworks have attracted many tourists to the small village thanks to the short videos recording the painting process as well as its rural flavor, landscapes and local customs that have also gone viral on the Internet.

"Wall paintings are no longer a niche thanks to the short video platforms. Shooting short videos featuring the painting process and real scenarios of rural life enables more people to know what is behind our artworks," said Liu.

Photo shows a wall painting featuring cartoon characters. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

As the Internet develops rapidly in China and the country advances its rural vitalization strategy, an increasing number of young people like Liu are returning home to do their part to promote rural development by making use of new technologies and methods, such as short videos and live-streaming sessions.

Villagers pose for photos in front of a wall painting. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)