Bitten by the passion bug

Zheng Xiaoyang reaches into a glass tank sitting in the back of his workstation, fumbles for a while and then whips out something that makes his visitors gasp in horror.

As a small, green snake wraps itself around his hand, the 29-year-old resident of Fuzhou, capital of East China's Fujian province, says: "It is not venomous and doesn't bite. You may touch it."

His reassuring words and the seemingly tamed creature often allay concerns, and encourage some to feel the snake's slimy skin.

Zheng's workstation looks somewhat like a mini zoo. Insect specimens take up cabinet space behind his desk while a rabbit nibbles a carrot under it. A gecko and a mantis, among others, sit cozy inside their plastic boxes lined up on the same desk.

Not far from the table, a miniature rainforest in a glass tank is home to a bunch of other creatures, including the Chinese flying frog, fireflies and stick bugs.

"There are at least 10,000 animals, including specimens, in this room," says Zheng, who shares an office space of 15 square meters with a few colleagues. He adds that he is lucky to have co-workers who don't mind his unusual hobby.

The man in a black cap and dark-rimmed glasses beams whenever he talks shop. His fetish for small creatures, particularly insects, has helped him launch a career as an online influencer in recent years.

Zheng's Douyin account, Xiaoyang's Insect World, has over 300 short videos and boasts more than 2.4 million fans.

Mixed with dollops of humor, the videos feature his field observations about both exotic and weird creatures, some with three eyes or twig-like limbs and others that are masters of camouflage.

He takes the trouble of demonstrating a toad's venom storage organ or how the elongate-oval water scorpion inhales with its butt underwater. No wonder his fans find the videos hilarious and riveting at the same time.

Zheng often starts his vlog with an intriguing question to keep his viewers engaged. The answer is revealed only at the end. He pays undivided attention to feedback and often responds with vivid experiments.

Once asked if a female mantis always devoured her partner, Zheng kept his mantises under long-term observation at his office and uploaded a video to demonstrate the rarity of cannibalism. "In natural settings, the female may prey on the male if she is starving or the male is being careless," he explains.

More than child's play

Insects caught Zheng's fancy when he was just a little boy. "There were scores of small bugs in our neighborhood and at the kindergarten I went to. I loved observing them," he recalls.

When his grandmother got him a mantis in a glass bottle, he was thrilled to have his first six-legged pet. He began collecting other insects so that he could observe them from close quarters. He discovered that a seven-spot ladybug secreted a pungent, yellow liquid from its "knees" when under attack.

Despite his interest in insects, Zheng chose to study automation at Changchun University of Science and Technology in Northeast China's Jilin province in 2011.

"For my family's sake, I had to look for what they called promising career opportunities," he says.

Zheng bagged a plum job in software marketing in Beijing after he graduated four years later, but he desperately wanted to keep his passion alive.

The turning point came soon enough.

"The founder of a nature education organization in Chongqing was a member in one of my insect enthusiasts' groups on WeChat," he says.

The organization hosts insect exhibitions and lectures, and its programs immediately resurrected Zheng's primal love for the bug world. "I was like 'it would be a dream come true to make a living by doing what I love'," he says.

To be on the safe side, Zheng flew to Chongqing one weekend to check things out. Although the new job offered only two-thirds of what he was receiving in Beijing, he quickly jumped on board.

"It was a great experience, especially the feedback from parents and children. I considered it a meaningful cause, which allowed me to talk to more people about insects," he says, adding that he knew there would be more such opportunities in the future.

The new job not only quenched his thirst for knowledge. It allowed Zheng to change people's perception about the natural world. "They perhaps now see the world with more objectivity and tolerance," he says.

Zheng says he believes a better understanding of insects can remove irrational fears and help people foster a better relationship with nature. "For example, you don't need to be afraid of a toad. Well, unless you are eating one, in which case it can be poisonous," he says.

Zheng adds that his communication skills have greatly improved over the years and he hopes to reach a wider audience.

Upping his game

When COVID-19 gripped the globe in 2020 and offline activities took a hit, Zheng made up his mind to go online. Making educational videos came to him naturally, courtesy of his previous experiences.

"I made it a point to avoid my own cognitive trap and create content from the perspective of my viewers. I constantly improve my work based on their feedback," he says.

Zheng gathered "characters" for his vlogs from everywhere－from his own kitchen, balcony and toilet to forest parks in his home province of Fujian and in Southwest China's Yunnan province.

Exciting moments in his video are often the result of hours of toil in the deep, dark woods and time-lapse photography.

"You need some basic knowledge about insects so that you know where to look and then, you must find the time to look for what you want," he says.

Zheng went back to Fuzhou last year and joined the Changwan Group, an online content marketing service provider. He has evolved into a professional short-video producer and has been invited as an expert by China Central Television.

China's short-video market is expected to reach a scale of 200 billion yuan ($29.9 billion), according to a report released in February by the Guangdong-based Zero Power Intelligence Group.

"User numbers are astronomical, and every segment has its own content producer and audience," says Guo Chen, vice-president of the Changwan Group.

"Short videos give people with specialized knowledge a great opportunity to attract a loyal audience. Zheng's account has carried increasing weight in the field of science popularization."

Zheng's modesty is among his greatest qualities. Every time a fan pays a compliment, he says what he has learned so far is only "the tip of an iceberg".

He has thus developed the habit of referring to books and online resources whenever he finds an insect he hasn't seen before. "When I see something interesting, I realize there's still a lot that I don't know," he says.

Speaking about his future, Zheng says he plans to delve into other subjects, such as vegetation, and share his knowledge with his viewers.

Yang Jie contributed to the story.