INTERNET sensation Li Ziqi has earned a Guinness World Record for Most Subscribers for a Chinese-Language Channel on YouTube. The Guinness World Records made the announcement through Weibo on Tuesday, saying that Li received the record after hitting 14.1 million subscribers last month. Guinness World Records added that Li’s videos, which showcased an idyllic lifestyle set in rural China, has resonated with millions of viewers from around the world. A picture of Li sitting with her Guinness World Record plaque is also included in the post. Li, 30, often posts videos of her life in rural Sichuan Province in China where she would harvest produce and show viewers how she cooks meals, prepares ingredients like soy sauce or makes her own furniture with bamboo, among other things. Her grandmother can often be seen accompanying her throughout the process. Her most popular video thus far, where she showed viewers how she makes Spring Festival snacks with produce such as peanuts, apples and mangoes using a traditional wood fire stove, has racked up 82 million views. To date, she has amassed more than 2 billion views on her YouTube channel. Li also has more than 5 million fans following her online shop on e-commerce platform Taobao. Li rarely speaks to viewers in her videos. To date, she has only posted one video to address her viewers regarding questions about her nationality. As her content have also been reposted by other users on various social media platforms without her permission, she made a declaration on YouTube in 2019 that she only has one official video channel and that her nationality is Chinese. Here are five things you should know about Li. She was born in a far-flung village Born in Mianyang, the second-largest prefecture-level city of Sichuan Province, Li’s real name is actually Li Jiajia. After her parents separated, she lived with her father, who passed away when she was just 6 years old. Her grandparents decided to take care of her after discovering that her stepmother mistreated her. Under her grandparents’ care in the countryside, Li grew up making bamboo crafts and cooking authentic Chinese meals. Li’s grandfather passed away when she was in fifth grade, leaving her grandmother as her sole guardian. When Li turned 14 years old in 2004, she dropped out of school to travel to the city in search of work. She used to be a DJ Li spent eight difficult years in the city, earning just 300 yuan (US$47) a month as a waitress, among other professions. To send more money to her grandmother, she learned how to perform as a DJ in a bar. But in 2012, her grandmother fell ill, so Li moved back to the countryside, opening an online apparel shop on Taobao. She started with a mobile hone Li first got the idea to produce videos from her older brother, who would post guitar videos on the social media platform Meipai, which is similar to Instagram. At first, she worked with rudimentary tools — her mobile phone and a basic video editing app — before investing in a tripod camera. Now, she even has the help of a videographer and assistant, although she still directs her videos herself. She also experimented with different subjects before settling on depicting the daily lives of herself and her grandmother — which often involves cooking — in 2016. Although her video production quality might not have been so professional at first, the unique content of her videos attracted a steady following. Controversy over food culture Li was recently caught in a crossfire between South Korean and Chinese netizens over the origin of kimchi. On Jan. 9, she posted a video in which she prepared some pickled vegetables, tagging it with #ChineseCuisine and #ChineseFood — but some netizens regarded the dish as kimchi, and criticized Li for apparently claiming that kimchi did not, in fact, originate from Korea. But Li was involved in other food battles before that, too. One of her earlier videos, “Authentic Lanzhou Beef Noodles,” marked the beginning of her success, clocking almost 19 million views since it was published in September 2017. However, increased attention resulted in greater scrutiny and netizens began to speculate on the authenticity of her content, particularly her claims of solo production efforts. Li ultimately dismissed the rumors and released a series of outtake videos to prove that she did, in fact, film all her earlier videos herself. She’s a philanthropist Li has also been recognized for her philanthropic efforts in recent years. Besides donating her personal items for fundraising purposes to the annual Bazaar Stars’ Charity Night in 2017, she also passionately supports rural Chinese communities. She has partnered with Sina Yangfan Charity Fund to donate books and computers to underprivileged students, and has promoted local, village-grown fruits in her widely viewed videos. (SD-Agencies) | 