Planting a seed of interest

Chen Qiqi screamed and gave the driver and other passengers quite a startle when she was riding in a car in late February.

"I was dozing off as the car ascended the mountains," recalls the woman in her 20s.

"Then there it was, hitting me between the eyes, the biggest legume sticking out from the woods, and I had been dying to see it with my naked eyes over the years."

As the car pulled over, she jumped right off and ran to the plant.

"It was Entada phaseoloides (box bean), and its pod could grow as long as 1 meter," she explains.

Chen observed the plant at close quarters, while taking pictures and videotaping it from various angles.

"I couldn't wait to share it with my audience," she says.

Chen, from Deyang in Southwest China's Sichuan province, was on a business trip seeking interesting plants in South China's Hainan province.

She also recorded tropical economic crops, such as rambutan and dragon fruit, of which images she would show online later.

Chen has been working as a plant science vlogger at Changwan Group, an online content marketing service provider based in Fuzhou, capital of East China's Fujian province.

In Chen's account on Douyin, a Chinese iteration of TikTok, more than 100 videos explaining different varieties of plants have earned her almost 1 million followers.

With her curly hair, the tall and lean woman possesses a self-assured, carefree demeanor, as she unravels aspects of plants that either pique public interest or conjure up nostalgia from childhood.

Her passion for plants is evident in her well-prepared presentation that has always seemed to reveal the charm of specific plants and kept her audience on the edge of their seat.

One could be intrigued by her interesting topics — plants that can be used to wash hair; flowers that can be rendered transparent by rain; or poisonous plants that are commonly seen in public spaces.

Chen stunned her audience last year when she demonstrated how to use red chili pepper to make lipstick.

In the video that has garnered over 4 million views on Douyin, Chen is seen chopping off a few small red peppers and grinding them into paste, before sifting it through to acquire a cup of red juice.

She then heats up the cup to remove water and condense the juice, before putting in an oil agent to extract the pigment elements.

In the process, Chen shares her real-time experience, such as the pungent smell emanating from the heated juice.

She also makes a point of explaining key steps of her operations.

"Some chili peppers have high levels of capsorubin (pigment element) which has been utilized by lipstick companies," she explains.

"The oil can carry away the capsorubin from the rest of the constituents, and help us get it," she says.

Her followers left comments, expressing their amazement at her extracting the pigment from the plant and applying it to her own lips. Many asked if she could feel the spiciness.

"To be frank, it did sting my lips a little," Chen says laughingly, admitting that the capsaicin (spice element) melted in the oil with capsorubin, and she skipped the steps of separating them.

Speaking about her recipe for the popularity of her work, Chen says it might also have something to do with her approach of combining science with trendy topics.

"For instance, when the stock market was down, I made a video about Chinese chives," she says.

In China, individual stock investors will be teasingly named "Chinese chives being cut".

Chen grabbed the opportunity to explain to her followers the mystery behind the plant's seemingly endless regeneration.

During last year's Mother's Day on May 8, Chen did a video on the orange daylily, which symbolizes filial piety in traditional Chinese culture.

She then took her audience on a learning journey about the plant, from such angles as how it was often planted by ancient travelers around the place of their stay to wish trouble away from their mother back at home.

When sugar cane hits the market in winter, she would timely warn people against eating those turning red.

"It is an indication of it going bad, which produces a toxin that could impair our nervous system," she explains.

"I feel proud and my job valued when people say they know about it because of me."

Opportunities online

Growing up in a small village in Deyang predisposed Chen to plants since childhood.

She opted for studies of plant protection at Sichuan Agricultural University in Chengdu, the provincial capital, in 2015.

"I felt like it would be fun to study in the farming field, looking into crops and insects," she says about her academic decision.

"It would be practical, because I could always come back home to help grow food."

The college studies further fueled her interest in plants, including those she used to take for granted.

"The discipline exposed me to problems plants might face and how to deal with them accordingly," Chen says.

"It was a revelation and a change in mindset."

The college experience has given her systematic knowledge of the natural world and enabled her to be a guide at an insect exhibition held in Chengdu in the junior year.

"That was when I found it fulfilling to impart what I learned to the public, who showed a strong interest in the field of my studies," she says.

It led to her choice of becoming a teacher at a nature education facility for children in Chongqing after her graduation in 2019.

However, the pandemic interrupted her plans, and she picked up skills for video shooting and online content production.

That paved the way for her to be a plant vlogger when the Fuzhou company Changwan offered her an opportunity in 2021.

"I worried a lot, at the beginning, about what if the audience didn't like the topics," Chen says, adding that it took time for her to feel her way around the online world before she found her place.

She says she has tried to present content in a lively and interesting way, while putting herself in the shoes of the audience.

"I found viewers asking for high-quality content," she says.

"They have raised more difficult questions and pushed me to deliver things that are different."

To date, her most popular video is about identification of popular plants, which has gained more than 45 million views and 1.38 million likes since October.

Her proudest work is one about crystal radish that has sent many viewers back to their childhood. "Many of them claimed they tasted it, but had never cared to know its name," Chen says.

The video was later reposted by popular food vloggers, some of whom have more than 7 million fans.

Growing market

A mid-length video that lasts one to three minutes usually takes three to four days to complete from topic selection to publication.

Chen says the most time-consuming part is researching.

Despite having a pertinent academic background, she says she still needs to repeatedly verify information to ensure professionalism.

"Reviewing a large amount of journals and checking various websites are necessary," Chen says.

When encountering unresolved problems, she seeks advice from university teachers.

China's short-video market is expected to reach a scale of 200 billion yuan ($28.7 billion), according to a 2022 report by Zero Power Intelligence Group, a Guangdong-based industrial research institute.

In recent years, short videos have become deeply integrated into people's work and life, says He Zhan, vice-president of Changwan Group.

The company now has nearly 20 science-popularization bloggers covering various fields, ranging from natural science, digital technology, history and humanities.

"Compared to their early development for entertainment and leisure purposes, the categories of short videos have become more diverse," He says, adding that many viewers' interests have also shifted from pure curiosity-driven entertainment to practical learning.

"Short videos on science topics are becoming popular, and a large number of vloggers in the field have emerged," He says.

He believes short videos can quickly translate knowledge, lower the threshold for learning, and provide more people with the possibility of exploring professional fields.

"Many excellent vloggers have also been invited to participate in industry events and interviews, receiving official recognition," He says.

Speaking about her future plans, Chen says she wants to continue to explore the world of plants with her audience.

"I'd like to showcase the interesting side of plants," Chen says.

"People may think they are immobile, but they are actually very interesting research subjects. By understanding their role in the ecosystem, we can truly love and care for them, and protect nature."