Li Ziqi
GARDEN GURU, FABULOUS FOODIE, ARTISAN, CRAFT MAKER, TRADITION REFRESHER
Li Ziqi (pronounced (Lee-Zi-Chi), meaning Gift From Heaven, is a “natural lifestyle foodie” and celebrity vlogger with millions of international followers. Starting from poor upbringings, she now shares her wealth of creative talent for living a natural lifestyle in grace and plenty, from her home in a forested mountain village in northwestern Pingwu, Mianyang City, Sichuan Province, where she lives with her grandmother.
Her actions and environment are sublime like a moving meditation, the fruits of discipline and hard work, Watch her grow, harvest and prepare luscious bounty from her epic garden as well as create a beautiful bamboo fence for stunning functional ambiance.
Spirit Of Self Reliance + Resilience
Her fresh take on traditional life brings a unique experience and feel to our wider world. She has explored and developed a new style of traditional living with the land in harmonious and idyllic beauty. We couldn’t be more enamored and inspired.
For example, her culinary chops include (but aren’t limited to) making peach blossom wine, watermelon cake, and traditional Sichuan moon treats, while a craft-based day sees her dying clothes in grape skins, making shoes for her grandmother, or building a wood-firing oven out of clay.
The spirit of struggling for independence and self-reliance conveyed by her life experience has attracted great attention at home and abroad. She has been praised by many mainstream media such as the official micro-blog of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, China Daily and Sina.
Her lifestyle teaches us to embody true wealth. A wealth of knowledge and self sustainability.
Her Story
When she was a child, she started living with her grandparents after her parents got divorced and her father passed away. Their lives were poor yet sufferable. Li Ziqi's grandfather was a cook in the village. When there was a ceremony going on, such as a wedding or a funeral, her grandfather would be in charge.
In her videos, she shows how to cook various dishes, which she had learned from her grandfather. Besides cooking, she also learned how to make bamboo baskets, grow vegetables, and make carpentry handiworks.
At the age of 14, when most of the kids at the same age went to middle school, she dropped out of school and tried to support herself and her family through hard and various jobs. She struggled much to survive - even at one time to the point of starvation and sleeping in a cave under a bridge.
At another time she worked as a waitress, an electrician, and even as a DJ at a nightclub. These work experiences helped her develop the ability to think and judge independently, begin to create and edit videos to share her experiences, as well as the ability to support her grandmother.
Watch Li Ziqi make a gorgeous dress dyed of grape peels from her garden.
In addition, she has tried to start a business many times. Her dream is to improve local families' living conditions. Now she has Li Ziqi Shop, where you can find her food, crafts, and wares!
After she had been working various jobs in the city for 7-8 years, her grandmother had a serious illness. It was 2012, and Liziqi finally figured out what she wanted to do then.
Her grandmother is the most important person in Li Ziqi’s life. So she immediately decided to give up everything and return to her hometown so that she could take full care of her grandmother. She started working early mornings and returned home late at night. Just like a farmer, she began living an ordinary yet special life in her hometown.
She began posting her videos and slowly they have gained popularity all over China and the world. She is dedicated to establishing quality control of her own products through creating her own brand to share with you and with the world.
Popularity On Social Media
How did she become famous? Li Ziqi is a normal young girl who is poor at singing and dancing. An idea came to her— how about cooking meals? Gathering all ingredients and materials in her yard and farmland?
At the initial stage, Li Ziqi's videos posted on "Mepai" (a social platform in China) didn't gain great attention. But later a few food experts started to notice her videos. Soon the number of her fans greatly increased. Also, with the help of her fans, she put her videos on Weibo (a social platform like Twitter in China) in 2016 and went on to receive a huge amount of attention.
In 2017, Li Ziqi became a new online celebrity in China known as " An Oriental Lifestyle Foodie". Li Ziqi's culinary and lifestyle craftsmanship convey a positive attitude toward life and her videos can help people fulfill the "dream of the countryside." She is living the dream of many people both at home and abroad
Many also show great interest in Li Ziqi’s clothing. In front of the camera, she always appears in a set of Chinese Han clothing which is made in rough fabric. Through her choices, her videos help more people learn and understand Chinese traditions and culture.
True Wealth
It is said that when you are able and willing to create a relationship with the earth rather than with things, you are able to embrace the earth and the earth embraces you. For example with tending the land, you are also embracing the life cycle of seeds, growing, harvesting, preparing, consuming, composting.
To be a creator as well as a consumer means you engage on a direct and personal level with the local ecology and the consciousness it represents. This is an ever evolving two way street. The hardships and the bounty bookmark the story of evolving tradition through family and community.
Your intention and efforts are now a more collective part, a more essential and influential movement in tune with the nature of your innermost being as well as mirrored in your surroundings. As a natural unfolding, your engagement becomes self empowerment, knowledge becomes wisdom, and action becomes love and gratitude.
May you live and love well. And may you share what you learn to create a life filled with harmony and fulfillment from wherever you are.
