Fisherman takes river stream to livestream

HARBIN - Every day at 9 am, fisherman Zhang Peng, 32, starts a new day's work along the mighty Heilong River. He turns on his mobile phone, logs on to his livestreaming account and broadcasts his daily fishing.

"This is the Wusuli River, in China's easternmost city, and these are salmon," Zhang explains during a livestreaming session.

With both hands he holds a fishing net with a salmon in it. His wife aims a mobile phone to broadcast the catch to an appreciative online audience.

"We just caught seven salmon," Zhang says.

It was only recently that he became an online celebrity via livestreaming. In his hometown of Fuyuan, Heilongjiang province, he often hears locals scream his name in the fish market.

"I used to be an obscure person in a small town," Zhang says. "It's hard to believe that I have become an internet star."

Livestreaming is big business in China. It generates huge profits for the host websites and catapults many presenters to overnight fame.

Zhang has a huge number of followers - 869,000, almost seven times the number of residents in his hometown. The border Heilong and Wusuli rivers have an abundance of freshwater fish, including salmon and sturgeon. Locals call the city "Golden Fish Bay".

Before the livestreaming adventure, Zhang's life had always been about fishing.

"My great-grandfather, my grandfather and my father were all fishermen on the Wusuli River," he said. "I started fishing when I was a child, and officially became a fisherman when I turned 17."

Zhang says that in the past, the job could only guarantee a "basic life". Seven years into marriage, the couple had only managed to save 40,000 yuan ($6,000).

But since the livestreaming, Zhang's life has taken a different turn. The soaring number of his followers increased his earnings, as followers who watch the broadcast often give tips on the streaming app.

For each livestreaming session, Zhang says he can make more than 1,000 yuan. He once received more than 5,000 yuan from his followers.

"I think people just love how simple and fun our life is via the camera," he says.

Sometimes Zhang also shows his followers how the locals enjoy a night of barbecue and beer after a day's fishing.

Zhang aims to please: "I just want to share the best things along the Wusuli with my followers, and I hope they will find joy in watching my broadcast."

Xinhua