The ingredients of success

A modern view of ancient China

Li Ziqi, 29, another vlogger has also tapped into the appeal of rural settings. Li has garnered more than 18 million followers on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, and boasts more than 6 million subscribers on YouTube. These numbers make Li the second most influential vlogger from China on the international video-sharing platform.

Li started shooting short videos in 2016, inspired by the self-sufficient lifestyle of ancient Chinese people. A young woman of the post-1990 generation, she looks elegant with long braids in her hair and always clad in exquisite traditional dresses. In her short videos, she has picked ripe cherries to make jam and has harvested peaches to make sweet wine. She has also showed how to grind beans to make soy milk and then condense the liquid to create tofu.

Most viewers found that the lifestyle depicted and the picturesque landscapes displayed in Li Ziqi's videos help them find inner peace and give them a psychological break from their stressful and busy urban routine.

One subscriber, Liam Lowentha, comments: "I have insurmountable respect and admiration for this woman. Not just from what I see in the videos, but the fact she's bringing back to life an archaic way of doing things. Because of her I've learned a lot about culture, process and reaction. I've also gained several new skills."

Aside from showcasing how to cook, Li Ziqi has even demonstrated other ancient skills, such as embroidery, movable-type printing, dyeing cloth and making furniture. She has impressed her viewers with both her manual dexterity and the charm of China's traditional handicrafts and techniques.

She has spent two years making paper from tree barks, brushes out of rabbit hair, and other stationery with natural materials.

"As an increasingly influential vlogger," she says, "I hope I can show the world the wondrous cultural heritage of China."