On November 12th, Li Ziqi released two new videos. Almost instantly, the news shot to the top of Xiaohongshu’s trending list.
For me, her return was a delightful, unexpected surprise. After nearly four years of absence, she resurfaced with two beautifully crafted videos that felt like a balm for the soul. In a time overflowing with disheartening news, Li Ziqi’s serene rural world became, once again, a refuge — a quiet place to catch my breath and feel at ease.
I first discovered her work back in 2018. One video showed her skillfully crafting a bamboo bed, transforming raw bamboo into something elegant and useful with her hands alone. In another, she built a rustic brick-and-mud oven to bake bread, roast chestnuts, and create all sorts of Sichuan delicacies. I was hooked instantly. The simplicity of her rural life and her astonishing craftsmanship captivated me. She seemed to be able to make anything, and her quiet competence left me awestruck. Before I knew it, I had binge-watched her entire channel on YouTube.
Her world, as shown in the videos, is both simple and enchanting: she and her grandmother live in the Sichuan mountains, immersed in a life of farming, cooking, and creating. Later, I came across a media interview that showed glimpses of her off-camera life. She chatted with a reporter under a sky full of stars, describing her creative process. She filmed most of her videos herself, using just a few smartphones mounted on tripods, and edited everything on a MacBook. Knowing these details only made her work feel even more real and remarkable.
Her videos are filled with images that stay with you. There’s Li Ziqi, wearing a deep blue cotton jacket and sturdy rain boots, laboring gracefully in the fields. In the kitchen, she wields a knife with quiet precision, slicing vegetables on a heavy chopping block as smoke curls up from her wood-fired stove. One of my favorite videos features garlic: she and her grandmother braid long strands of it to hang for drying. That scene instantly brought me back to my childhood in rural northwest China, where every winter, strings of garlic and chilies would hang under the eaves of houses.
Li Ziqi has created the image of an indomitable woman — strong, capable, endlessly creative — but her videos also highlight the softer rhythms of rural life. There are the moments of neighborly cooperation, like working together to thresh wheat, and the unspoken warmth of her bond with her grandmother. Her stories unfold with minimal dialogue, letting the visuals do all the talking, and it’s deeply comforting to watch.
On YouTube, the comments are often filled with admiration for her skills. Meanwhile, her Weibo updates tend to drown in a flood of bullet comments, making it harder to focus on the videos themselves. What’s remarkable now is that she’s expanded her presence to platforms like Xiaohongshu and Douyin, reaching an even wider audience. Perhaps it’s her singularity — there’s really no one else like her — that has created such a massive wave of attention. With her return, the media has been buzzing, analyzing and celebrating her unique artistry.
And yet, despite the hype, her newest videos remain as serene as ever. I’m grateful that hasn’t changed.
In one video, she showcases her newfound lacquer carving skills, using them to craft new panels for her grandmother’s wardrobe. In another, she builds herself a bamboo walk-in closet, complete with a flower-lined path leading to it from the main house. The scene where she helps her grandmother walk down that path, surrounded by blooms, is both heartwarming and quietly triumphant. Watching her bring yet another idea to life filled me with a deep sense of contentment.
The videos continue to feature her signature imagery: star-filled night skies, gardens bursting with flowers, and pomelo-laden trees in the courtyard. But now, there’s also an emphasis on her ongoing exploration of new skills and crafts. One thing I did notice, though, was the sheer number of outfit changes — she seems to wear something new in every frame, which was a little distracting at times. Still, it doesn’t take away from the magic she creates.
I can’t wait to see what she does next.
