LiZiQi - a truly beautiful thing

[Blackhorse]

Li ZiQi...a YouTube channel produced by a woman in China about her life in rural China.  I think she’s about 30 y.o.  She had gone to the city when younger and lived a life of hectic survival then returned to her home in the country to care for her grandparents.  Now it’s just her grandmother (looks about 102 y.o.) and her.

The point of this totally self produced series of videos is to show a younger generation where food, etc. really comes from.  It’s completely unique.  The girl is gorgeous.  She does segments on various things...all from scratch...like cooking, making furniture, all their own clothes, bedding, growing crop items and raising farm animals.  It sounds stupid.  Instead, it is inspiring.  The cinematography is fantastic. The sequencing of scenes is logical. The FOOD looks so good I would move there just to have dinner.  

But none of that explains the appeal.  Get this...no dialog...no voices except maybe a little chatter between ZiQi and granny.  Just a light musical background against natural sounds like rain if it’s raining, etc.  Like, she does one thing where she hatches ducklings and raises them til they are laying eggs...so she can make some kind of special sauce that uses duck egg yolks.  

I’ll bet there isn’t a man in China that wouldn’t marry her in a heartbeat. An urban fantasy of a rural dream. And she’s FAMOUS. Not “rural poor” either.


https://youtu.be/oi38cQMORQY

 

[Zeno Marx]

Thanks. I'll check it out for sure. Always looking for something with a relaxing, interesting vibe. 11.4 million subscribers is no small thing on youtube. I'm always watching stuff like this, and I've never heard of her. I'm surprised the algorithm hasn't hit me up in my suggestions.

 

[SteveMKentucky]

Wow...absolutely fascinating...

 

[kxg]

Amazing. She never breaks a sweat. I would look like I wallowed in a pig sty if I did half the stuff she does.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Amazing. She never breaks a sweat. I would look like I wallowed in a pig sty if I did half the stuff she does.

You can tell she is an excellent editor and technically knowledgeable film maker. If you watch content creators when they talk about the actual making of youtube videos, most of them come back to the editing. They really hammer that element when talking about what they do and which creators are the exceptional ones. The general public doesn't understand that aspect of film. They have an Oscar for editing, but I don't think the average person goes beyond, "Eh, that must be sort of important." When in fact, it is a HUGE part of film making. Editing can destroy, or build up, a film of any sort, be it youtube, tiktok, TV, documentary, movie. It's the last person in the line of storytelling. Probably as substantial as the director, because editing can completely change the context of every single motion or moment. Sorry for the diatribe. I've been really admiring and trying to pick up details as people talk about editing.