On People's Daily on 4/2, Li Ziqi spoke about her work over the past year, explaining her absence from social media platforms. The people she met were primarily artisans involved in intangible cultural heritage crafts. Last year, Li Ziqi visited Hunan province two times to meet Tran Quoc Dao, a nearly 90-year-old woman who opened a traditional Miao embroidery workshop in the mountains. Due to her advanced age, she cannot sit for hours with needle and thread but teaches over 100 women in her village.

Thanks to the embroidery workshop, these women no longer have to leave their children or seek work elsewhere. Instead, they earn income from this ancient craft, which is deeply rooted in their village culture.

Li Ziqi with her grandmother in a short film from 11/2024. *Video: Weibo/Li Ziqi*

Li Ziqi also spoke about another woman, Tran Van Chan, an inheritor of Qiang embroidery in Sichuan. Tran Van Chan guides women in surrounding villages to embroider on notebooks, handbags, and coasters, rather than solely on clothes or bedding as before. The women's part-time work has become their main profession, providing stable income and enriching their families.

She realized that each stitch contributes to the beauty, prosperity, and well-being of rural areas, and that over the years, the lives of villagers have changed thanks to traditional culture. The growth of short videos and film crews shooting in rural areas has also made traditional crafts more widely known.

Li Ziqi making iris-shaped earrings for an event in 5/2025. *Video: Weibo*

These encounters led Li Ziqi to gradually shift her work focus to behind the scenes. Previously, she pondered how to film beautiful videos and how to showcase crafts effectively. Now, she is deeply concerned with how intangible cultural heritage crafts can provide more practical benefits to people, make traditional culture more vibrant, and foster cultural confidence.

For over a year, Li Ziqi has not updated videos or interacted with fans on social media. Instead, she has been studying various intangible cultural heritage disciplines. Her most recent work, released in 11/2024, consists of three short films depicting the process of making Diaoqi, an ancient form of carved lacquerware.

Li Ziqi, 36, is the Chinese content creator with the most followers on YouTube. *Photo: Xinhua*

According to The Paper, Li Ziqi's content goes against the prevailing trends on the Internet. Nearly 10 years ago, when urban topics dominated, Li Ziqi chose to focus on rural life. As life became increasingly busy and fast-paced, she created everything by hand, slowly and in harmony with nature. For example, Li Ziqi would soak seeds, wait for them to sprout, grow into seedlings, and then bear flowers and fruit. All her works emphasize "essence"; she only films after thoroughly understanding the subject and the craft she wishes to introduce, without frequent updates of new works.

She came from a difficult background; as a child, her parents divorced, and her father remarried. Li Ziqi was abused by her stepmother. Initially, she cried, but gradually stopped shedding tears despite the abuse. Afterwards, her paternal grandparents took her in. When Li Ziqi was 10, her grandfather passed away, and the family lost its economic pillar. She went to the city to work, even sleeping under bridges because she could not afford rent. In 2012, Li Ziqi returned to her hometown because her grandmother became seriously ill. Since 2016, she has pursued content creation, initially focusing on culinary arts before transitioning to the field of intangible cultural heritage.

Nhu Anh