Li Ziqi (vlogger)

Li Ziqi
李子柒
李子柒
Li in 2021
Li in 2021
Born
Li Jiajia

(1990-07-06) 6 July 1990
Pingwu County, Mianyang, Sichuan, China
Occupations
Bilibili information
Channel
Years active2016–present
Followers10.3 million
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2017–present
Genresfood and culture
Subscribers32.7 million
Views3.447 billion
Last updated: August 8, 2026
WebsiteLi Ziqi's Weibo
Li Ziqi
Chinese李子柒
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLǐ Zǐqī
Wade–GilesLi3 Tzŭ3-ch'i1
IPA[lì tsɹ̩̀.tɕʰí]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationLéih Jí-chāt
JyutpingLei5 Zi2-cat1
IPA[lej˩˧ tsi˧˥.tsʰɐt̚˥]
Birth name
Chinese李佳佳
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLǐ Jiājiā

Li Ziqi ([lì tsɹ̩̀.tɕʰí]; Chinese: 李子柒; pinyin: Lǐ Zǐqī; born 6 July 1990) is a Chinese video blogger, entrepreneur, and Internet celebrity.[1] She is known for creating food and handicraft preparation videos in her hometown of rural Pingwu County, Mianyang, north-central Sichuan province, southwest China, often from basic ingredients and tools using traditional Chinese techniques.[2][3][4][5] In February 2021, she received the Guinness World Record for "The most subscribers for a Chinese language channel on YouTube."[6]

Early life

Li was born on 6 July 1990 in Sichuan, China, originally named "Li Jiajia" (李佳佳).[7] Public knowledge of Li's private life is primarily based on her statements in social media and to mass media.[8]: 157 

She was orphaned at a very young age.[9] In an interview with Goldthread, Li stated that she moved in with her grandparents after her stepmother mistreated her.[10] She was raised in poverty.[8]: 150 

At 14 years old, Li began working as a restaurant waitress.[8]: 150  Later, she learned how to DJ and worked in a night club in Mianyang.[8]: 150 

In 2012, her grandfather died.[8]: 150  Li moved back to her home village to care for her grandmother who had become ill.[8]: 150 

Career

Li started posting her videos on Meipai in 2015.[11] Initially, Li made her videos by herself, but her video editing skills at the time failed to "capture the creativity" she tried to express. In 2016, one of Li's videos titled Peach Wine caught the attention of a video-making platform CEO, who featured the video on the platform's front page, which soon elicited more followers for Li's channel. She released her first video to YouTube in 2017 with the title "Making a dress out of grape skins."[12] As of January 2024, she had over 18 million subscribers on YouTube, and as of January 2024 she had over 26.3 million followers on Sina Weibo,[13] over 5 million followers on Facebook,[14] and inspired many bloggers to post similar content.[15][16][11][17]

Her mainland audience includes urban millennials.[18] Li's popularity may be attributed to fugu (复古, retro-nostalgia), a growing appreciation in modern China for traditional culture.[19] In an interview with Goldthread in September 2019, Li stated "I simply want people in the city to know where their food comes from."[10]

A majority of Li's videos focus on traditional foods and antiques.[20] Besides food preparation videos, other popular videos of Li's include creating makeup and dresses dyed with grape skins.[21] Li rarely speaks in her videos, and the sounds of nature, cooking, and calm music are most prominent. Hemispheres magazine stated, "The only narration is friendly banter between Li and her grandmother, but the sounds—the singing of birds, the crunch of frost underfoot, the thwack of a cleaver, the sizzle of frying garlic—lure you into an ASMR trance, so you don't even notice how many videos you've binged."[22] Her videos are generally between 5 and 20 minutes.[8]: 151  In her postings, Li frequently uses hashtags that evoke nostalgia, with one of her favorites being "Dawn blossoms plucked by [Zi]Qi," an allusion to Lu Xun's nostalgic sentiment in the essay collection Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk.[8]: 151 

In 2018, she launched a food brand under her own name and sold prepackaged food through e-commerce.[23] She opened the e-commerce shop on Tmall.[8]: 148  In 2020, she founded a factory in Liuzhou to produce luosifen.[8]: 148 

She was awarded the People's Choice Award by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party's official People's Daily newspaper in September 2019.[24][25]: 207  That same year, she was selected as 2019 Person of the Year in Cultural Communication by China Newsweek.[8]: 148  In August 2020, Li was nominated as a member of the All-China Youth Federation.[26][27][25]: 207  Li, along with Ms Yeah and Dianxi Xiaoge, are the only Chinese Internet celebrities who have reached international prominence.[28]

In July 2021, Li put her vlogger career on hiatus due to a legal dispute with her business partners.[29][30] On 27 October 2021, Li formally sued her multi-channel network (MCN) partner firm Hangzhou Weinian. Although the dispute contents have not been publicized, various media suggested that it is related to commercialization of the Li Ziqi brand. A week prior, in an interview on state-run China Central Television (CCTV), Li stated that "she does not want to see her intellectual property over-commercialized."[31]

In December 2022, Li Ziqi became the controller of a company that owns the intellectual property linked to her name and brand after the court dispute.[3]

2023 reappearance

In September 2023, Li briefly appeared in a video for the China Association of Young Rural Entrepreneurial Leaders. She acted as the official ambassador for the Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival, which occurs annually on the autumn equinox.[32]

2024 return

After three years of absence, Li Ziqi announced her comeback in November 2024.[33]

Reception

Li received her first official praise from China's official channels in on 18 May 2017, when the Weibo account of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League re-posted one of her videos with the comment, "Salute every young person fighting for their dreams" and "every hard-working young person who does not waste time.[8]: 193  The Motherland is proud of you for your hard work." CCTV has also praised her and stated "Without a word commending China, Li promotes Chinese culture in a good way and tells a good China story."[34]

Journalists have indicated that her videos may be viewed by some as a means of promoting Chinese government soft power.[18][34][35] In 2019, writer Cai Jiangzhou posted an essay on Weibo contending that Li's videos should be considered a "cultural export"; the essay and its related hashtags received ten million views, leading to online discussion of whether Li's videos could enhance China's soft power.[8]: 158  Responding to those who contended that Li's videos showed backwards rural life to foreigners, Cai asked, "Why can't we view labouring in the fields as a cultural export? This is clearly a strength of the Chinese nation, why does it necessarily mean 'poverty,' 'backwardness,' and 'failure to represent China'?" and contended that Li's video showed the strength of Chinese perseverance and self-sufficiency.[8]: 159 

A 2023 academic study suggests that some foreign audiences drew parallels between Chinese culture and their own.[36]

Academic Rui Kunze writes that Li's videos present an aspirational authenticity that seeks to portray what rural life and China's heritage mean to Li.[37]: 27 

Some critics contend that Li's portrayals of country life distort reality.[37]: 27  In particular, critics have stated that Li's videos presented a "gentrified vision" of contemporary rural life in China.[38] Academic Rui Kunze writes that dismissing followers' feelings as escapist and criticizing Li's videos as inauthentic "fails to explore the followers' affective needs and desires underlying their fantasies, which are precisely what Li Ziqi addresses in her vlog."[8]: 154 

Columnist Tejal Rao writes that Li's "D.I.Y. fantasies" show "the intriacy and intensity of labor" and the meaningful qualities of the "long, solitary processes of producing food" carried out by a "tireless, focused, confident, independent" woman.[8]: 154–155 

Li's viewers generally regard her curated persona and content as demonstrating her work ethic, attachment to nature, entrepreneurialism, and devotion to her grandmother.[37]: 27 

Personal life

Li lives with her grandmother, who occasionally appears in videos,[39] in the countryside of Mianyang in Southwest China's Sichuan.[16] When Li was in fifth grade, her grandfather died. As a result, her grandmother was unable to pay for her education, and Li dropped out of school at the age of 14 to work in the city. She worked several jobs, including being a singer (2006–2007), a disc jockey (2007–2013), and a waitress (2016–2017).[40] In 2012, she moved back to take care of her grandmother, who was sick at that time.[41]

At the start, Li sold agricultural products on Taobao as a way to earn a living before moving on to be a vlogger.[40]

Li initially did all photography and editing by herself. As she gained popularity and experience, she produced her videos with the help of a personal assistant and a videographer.[10]

On the reality show I Am The Cooking God, Li described her ideal lifestyle as "working at sunrise and resting at sunset, [enjoying] purely natural food and the simplest lifestyle like in ancient times."[8]: 150–151 

See also

References

  1. ↑ Yamaguchi, David (14 March 2019). "SANSEI JOURNAL: Everything Comes From China". North American Post. Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  2. ↑ "李子柒 Liziqi". Youtube. 9 April 2024. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  3. 1 2 "China's Biggest YouTuber Li Ziqi Wins IP Control After Dispute". Yicai Global. Xinhua News Agency. 27 December 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  4. ↑ Rahmil, David-Julien (5 March 2019). "L'une des plus jolies chaînes de YouTube serait en réalité un outil de propagande massive". L'ADN (in French). Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  5. ↑ "揭秘2017最火网红"古风美食第一人"李子柒". ifeng.com (in Chinese). 27 July 2017. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  6. ↑ "Li Ziqi breaks YouTube subscribers record for Chinese language channel". Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records Limited. 3 February 2021. Archived from the original on 16 September 2022. Retrieved 10 February 2021. Chinese vlogger Li Ziqi set a new record for "Most subscribers for a Chinese language channel on YouTube" with 14.5 million subscribers, Guinness World Records announced on Tuesday.
  7. ↑ Che, Hui (30 December 2019). ""李子柒现象"背后的网红出海". Workers' Daily (in Chinese). p. 5. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Kunze, Rui (2025). "Cooking Authenticity: Li Ziqi, Affective Labor, and China's Influencer Culture". In Imbach, Jessica (ed.). Digital China: Creativity and Community in the Sinocybersphere. Routledge. pp. 147–164. doi:10.4324/9781003693901_CH06. ISBN 9781041178088. JSTOR jj.13049278.12.
  9. ↑ Cao, Jing (31 December 2019). "All You Want to Know about Li Ziqi (李子柒)". DigMandarin. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  10. 1 2 3 Wu, Venus (13 September 2019). "Exclusive: Behind the scenes with Li Ziqi, China's most mysterious internet celebrity". Goldthread. Archived from the original on 25 April 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  11. 1 2 Dumke, Erin (13 April 2019). "Li Ziqi: The Online Celebrity Bringing Ol' School Traditions to the Modern World". Chinosity. Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  12. ↑ "Li Ziqi breaks YouTube subscribers record for Chinese language channel". Guinness World Records. 3 February 2021. Archived from the original on 16 September 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  13. ↑ "李子柒的微博". Sina Weibo (in Chinese). Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  14. ↑ "李子柒". Facebook. Archived from the original on 18 March 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  15. ↑ Li, Weida (25 January 2019). "Top YouTube channels to learn about China". GBTimes. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  16. 1 2 Doyen, Léa (3 October 2018). "This Chinese youtube girl teaches us how tofu is made". Emotions. Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  17. ↑ Nigari (7 May 2018). "La youtubeuse Li Ziqi et la tradition chinoise ancestrale". AgoraVox (in French). Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  18. 1 2 Matei, Adrienne (28 January 2020). "Country life: the young female farmer who is now a top influencer in China". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 March 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  19. ↑ Yang, Chunmei (6 November 2017). "China's Cultural Revivalists: More Than Just Quirky Throwbacks". Sixth Tone. Archived from the original on 16 February 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  20. ↑ Zhang, Shen, ed. (12 December 2019). "美食博主李子柒为什么收获关注?中纪委网站这样说". Sina News (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  21. ↑ Li, Ziqi (24 August 2017). Making a dress with grape skins, what kind of experience is it?. 李子柒 Liziqi. Archived from the original on 18 March 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020 – via YouTube.
  22. ↑ Freeman, Ellen (1 December 2019). "How One Chinese Vlogger is Inspiring Armchair Wanderlust". Hemispheres. Archived from the original on 14 April 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  23. ↑ Wang, Jeffrey (6 August 2020). "Li Ziqi has Set Up a New Food Company and May Export Chinese Food". Panda!Yoo. Archived from the original on 23 August 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  24. ↑ Yan, Alice (11 December 2019). "Chinese state media approves of YouTube star Li Ziqi". Inkstone News. Archived from the original on 6 February 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  25. 1 2 Bachulska, Alicja; Leonard, Mark; Oertel, Janka (2 July 2024). The Idea of China: Chinese Thinkers on Power, Progress, and People (EPUB). Berlin, Germany: European Council on Foreign Relations. ISBN 978-1-916682-42-9. Archived from the original on 17 July 2024. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  26. ↑ Zhang, Wanqing (18 August 2020). "Chinese Web Celebs Appointed to Party-Backed Youth Organization". Sixth Tone. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  27. ↑ Li, Jill (12 August 2020). "As China's Vloggers Draw International Fans, Beijing Sees Soft Power Opportunity". Voice of America. Archived from the original on 23 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  28. ↑ 诸未静 (23 December 2019). 林涛 (ed.). "网红出海热 谁能成为下一个"李子柒"？" [Internet celebrities are become popular overseas. Who can become the next "Li Ziqi"?]. Southern Metropolis Daily (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2021 – via Nanfang Daily.
  29. ↑ "What Happened to Li Ziqi, China's Most Famous YouTuber?". Vice News. 20 September 2021. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  30. ↑ "Company behind Li Ziqi denies controlling her accounts". China Daily. 2 November 2021. Archived from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  31. ↑ "Chinese YouTube Celebrity Li Ziqi Sues MCN Partner Weinian After Three-Month Silence". www.yicaiglobal.com. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  32. ↑ "Former hottest influencer in China Li Ziqi's controversial comeback after 2-year hiatus sparks online firestorm over change in appearance". South China Morning Post. 23 September 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2024. Li declared her official return on September 15 in a video published on social media platforms that went viral after it was picked up by local news outlets. She had not yet shared any new content at the time of this article's publication.
  33. ↑ Spencer, Richard (18 November 2024). "China's 'slow living' influencer returns after three-year hiatus". The Times. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  34. 1 2 Yan, Alice (11 December 2019). "Chinese state media joins rural life blogger Li Ziqi's millions of followers". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  35. ↑ Kim, Jo (5 May 2020). "Will Internet Celebrities Become China's New Channel for Projecting Soft Power?". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  36. ↑ Li, Jingfang; Adnan, Hamedi M.; Gong, Jiankun (10 December 2023). "Exploring Cultural Meaning Construction in Social Media: An Analysis of Liziqi's YouTube Channel". Journal of Intercultural Communication. 23 (4): 1–12. doi:10.36923/jicc.v23i4.237.
  37. 1 2 3 Imbach, Jessica (2025). "Introduction: Locating Digital China". In Imbach, Jessica (ed.). Digital China: Creativity and Community in the Sinocybersphere. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003693901_INTRO (inactive 8 August 2026). ISBN 9781041178088. JSTOR stable/jj.13049278.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of August 2026 (link)
  38. ↑ "Escape to the country". Week in China. No. 480. 24 January 2020. pp. 13–14. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  39. ↑ Li, Ziqi (17 December 2017). A multi layer sole shoes for my grandma, in memory of good old days给奶奶做了双千层底，重温儿时一针一线的旧时光. 李子柒 Liziqi. Archived from the original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020 – via YouTube.
  40. 1 2 Duan, Xiaoer (17 December 2019). "「農村網紅」李子柒衝出國際並獲中國官媒加持，你有看過她的影片嗎？" ["Rural Net Red" Li Ziqi rushed out of the world and was blessed by Chinese official media. Have you seen her video?]. Initium Media (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  41. ↑ "【放過李子柒】李子柒爆紅幕後團隊與全商業版圖". chinaqna.com (in Chinese). 12 December 2019. Archived from the original on 22 June 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
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