They rediscover the beauty and purity of life with their creations, and they also illuminate every land with their creations.
Wen | also rejoiced
Edited | Golden Stone
Photography | Wang Jiayu (ASTUDIO)
Video | small full video
Ding Zhen and his friends
A wild lynx is looking for something with its back to the camera, and the pattern on its body is clearly recognizable. This summer, Ding Zhen Pearl came across it in the mountains of his hometown. Late last year, a smiling video made the Tibetan boy famous, and he went down the mountain, traveled all over the country, and now lives in Chengdu. But when he doesn't work, he will return to his hometown of Litang. On this day, Ding Zhen and his friends shouted away the lynx with a scream, and before its next activity, they stoned the three mobile phone racks and turned to hide.
The phone clearly captured the lynx's movements in the grass, and a long roar as it turned around, against the backdrop of the clear blue sky of the plateau. Ding Zhen uploaded this video to Douyin and wrote: This is a child in my hometown, I took it Oh, it is looking for a bird.
In early September, Ding Zhen was filming in Chengdu, and in the dressing room he showed me the video, and there was excitement between the words, which was the most satisfactory video on his Douyin account this year. Unlike being filmed himself, this was Ding Zhen's active behavior. Unlike the passivity of fame, "initiative" grew in this young man. Today's Ding Zhen learns Chinese every day, and he will express his opinions and ideas more clearly - after the completion of the Cangyang Study On Renkang Ancient Street in Litang, Ding Zhen said that he hoped that his village could also build one; the establishment and application of donations and funds, Ding Zhen would have his own judgment and requirements; and pat vibrato, Ding Zhen would also propose how to shoot. In the nearly one year of fame, Ding Zhen and his team sometimes in Litang, sometimes in Chengdu and other places, he traveled all over the world, participated in activities, and filmed variety shows and documentaries. He likes Beijing in the summer, he said a long sentence in One Breath in Chinese - the words of Beijing are all roads and cement roads and the like, litang words are not so many roads, it will be warmer, and if there is a sun, it will be warmer.
The change happened in Ding Zhen's body, and also happened in his hometown of Litang. In the past, Litang was a transit station in Daocheng Aden and tried everything to retain tourists, but now many people can come to Litang just because of Ding Zhen's reason. Ding Zhen's colleague Dolma in the travel investment company engaged in scenic spot explanation work, she found that litang peak season tourists have become more, the most day she has to take more than 80 people through the museum of Renkang Ancient Street, selling Tibetan clothes shop income has also become more, and she saw more and more people on Douyin following Ding Zhen's hairstyle and clothing, Ding Zhen wore white Tibetan clothes today, and the big guys put on white Tibetan clothes together.
On this day in September, the friends who saw the wild lynx with Ding Zhen also came to Chengdu to shoot together. The flat-headed, always smiling brother Phuntsok Nyima, the long-haired uncle, and other small friends, all invited by Ding Zhen himself, are partners who grew up together and herded cattle together.
For those who pay attention to Ding Zhen, these partners can often be seen on Douyin. They still live under the Ge Nie Snow Mountain, but they have passed on the real life in Tibetan areas to people far away. On the day of herding cattle, they get up at 6 o'clock and drive their cattle to the mountain together, and the cattle are within sight, and they are always on the lookout for wolves. Ding Zhen and Pingcuo had more than 70 cows in their home, and they remembered what each one looked like, along with their names. Now Phuntsok herded the cattle, and in the afternoon he drove the cattle home. Spare time to train horse racing. In season dig up matsutake and cordyceps. In the view of the leader of Ding Zhen's team, "everything can be expressed, and expression is value".
The younger brother, Phuntsok Nyima, had a cheerful personality, and he opened his five fingers and said that this was a mountain. Depending on the size of the mountains, the forests change – in autumn, "many mountains bloom." In the past, they only filmed Douyin once in a few months, under the "leadership" of Ding Zhen, but now they often shoot and broadcast live when they have time. The most direct change is that they will spontaneously sell their own matsutake and cordyceps on Douyin, sell their own relatives' homes, ride on motorcycles or horses to pack and deliver goods, and send them to netizens in the distance.
On the day of the shooting, Ding Zhen and his friends all put on Tibetan costumes, which is the dress of an important day, "all carrying". But in the TikTok shot, they can get their hair messy, find a signal and start broadcasting, "TikTok offers a possibility that they can be themselves." The team leader said that Douyin is a very important creative platform for them. "The existence of vibrato has allowed the Han people to know more about the Tibetans and communicate more closely." He called them "frontier creators." In addition to the beauty and the quiet things of the years, "they are trying to tell you what life is like, it is very difficult, it is very clear to see, the place where the cattle are herded is so thick snow, but they are herding cattle." 」 He really filmed it, building roads, herding cattle, digging cordyceps, digging matsutake mushrooms, it was late at night, and his eyes were red and he was still broadcasting the matsutake he dug."
So will there be the next Ding Zhen? The team leader believes that Ding really appeared because the public has always been very enthusiastic about creation and different content, "it is impossible to be like that by relying on appearance alone." In addition to Ding Zhen, the uncle is particularly joyful, and the younger brother has a rich desire to express and a good sense of fashion, and they are all creators with a lot of space. But they rarely reply to comments from netizens, because "typing is too difficult", "those words that will be read, those that will not be put away" during the live broadcast, they still need more opportunities to learn and grow.
In addition to the simple presentation and spontaneous creation, the team leader feels that there is also a need for expression, content breakthroughs and continuous content output to form a trend. Nowadays, the time of their live broadcast is uncertain, and today's mood is good to broadcast, and it may not be broadcast after two days when the signal is gone, "the possibility of this growth is unlikely." They rely on the emotional needs derived from Ding Zhen by the public: fans remember that his brother is very skinny and can work in the live broadcast room; remember that some young men buy matsutake mushrooms and insist on "cash on delivery"; remember that some are very small and have no mother, which is more emotional; remember that their uncle opened a new homestay in the county. But how can their creations have something new and self-expression? "They need support, they need professional cooperation and shooting to form a matrix of content."
Representative of Li Tang's creation
The "Big Cousin of the Tibetans" (hereinafter referred to as the "Big Cousin"),as the representative of Litang's creation, also came to the shooting site in Chengdu. He first met Ding Zhen last winter, when he was already a short video creator with 30,000 followers on Douyin. In the month after Ding Zhen became popular, the eldest cousin gained 20,000 fans - many people like Tibetan culture and Tibetan customs and humanities through Ding Zhen, and the eldest cousin has always been committed to spreading the correct Tibetan culture and real Tibetan life. Now his videos have a greater potential to go viral.
The eldest cousin's video was originally made to counter a negative video by an Internet celebrity about Daocheng Aden. At that time, he was a civil servant in his hometown of Daocheng Aden. In that video, it is said that the road can be built to the foot of the snowy mountain, why not? In the eyes of the eldest cousin at the time, this was a provocative video to attract those who did not care about travel and were comfortable with themselves. They don't take into account the identity of the Daocheng Aden Nature Reserve and the environmental assessment on the plateau. This video has a lot of likes. At that time, he realized that he needed to fight for the right to speak in order to justify the name of his hometown. He immediately made a clarification video on Douyin, "I am determined to do it well."
In the big cousin's many videos, he will bring the tag of #Rumor Crusher, which is to let more people see the real science about Tibetan areas. For example, there are rumors that Tibetans only bathe three times in their lives. Bringing up the rumor on the set, he turned around and asked Ding for really bathing records. Ding Zhen said that he had been digging up cordyceps and matsutake mushrooms since then, and had not bathed for a month or two. The eldest cousin said, you are better than me, and my record is four months. They laughed together. In fact, there are many geological resources on the plateau, and the village of Dingzhen has natural hot springs to bathe in. The eldest cousin will appear in the camera in a self-black and ridiculous way, his face is close to the camera, rough and direct, he has his own logic when speaking, the tone is firm, and the "strong point of view output".
Previously, the eldest cousin took the initiative to be transferred from Daocheng Aden to Litang to work, for freedom and to see a more open world. In Litang, he had to re-learn the local dialect and humanities. When the eldest cousin speaks, he often mentions Tibetan proverbs, in addition to the words from the elders, but also from his dealings with the local people. In Litang, he is the deputy township chief, mainly doing grassland fire prevention work, but full of uncertainty. A fire was lit, a flood came, which family quarreled, which two people ran to steal cattle and horses today, or which family's horse was stolen by the cattle and horses, as a grassroots public official, he encountered very specific problems. He loves learning and communication, and he loves his challenging work and gaining insights, but at different stages of his life, he still decided to live a different way.
Recently, the eldest cousin resigned from the civil service to concentrate on shooting short videos and became an active creator. On the plateau, there are not many employment opportunities, and the status of a civil servant is decent and respectable, and some people say that the eldest cousin has broken Li Tang's imagination of the elite rice bowl, preferring to devote himself to an uncertain profession. But everyone also believes that the eldest cousin is the most needed person in Tibetan areas - he loves to express it, and he also seizes the opportunity to express it. Nowadays, most of the big cousin's fans come from big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, and as a "frontier creator", he has always taken the dissemination of real Tibetan culture as his mission, "I still hope that my voice can be wider and farther."
Keep walking down
The creations of Ding Zhen's partners and tibetan cousins all carry the colors of plateaus and Tibetan areas. As a tourism ambassador of Ganzi Prefecture, Ding Zhen's work is not only in the distance, but also in learning the culture of Tibetan areas. In an episode of the documentary, Ding Zhen brings two tibetan opera singers to Beijing to visit Li Yugang's jade space in the East Fifth Ring Road, where Tibetan opera collides with traditional Chinese opera culture.
In the jade space, Li Yugang also took Ding Zhen to taste tea together, sharing tea culture and flower arrangement art. Li Yugang has been obsessed with the concept of twenty-four solar terms since childhood. When he was in elementary school, he began to pay attention to the changes in the solar terms, and he told his classmates that it was raining today, but the reply was - "You are nervous!" Now this seemingly anachronistic fascination with traditional culture has finally landed. Jade space is a practical carrier of Li Yugang's love for traditional culture, the virtual and blank space of oriental aesthetics, Dunhuang culture and Chinese colors, carrying his spiritual world and aesthetics, and also influencing his creation. In 2016, the 10th anniversary of his debut, Li Yugang released a minimalist song, "Just Met You".
It had to do with his state and mental journey at that time, and he was trying to become pure. In 2006, he dressed as a woman on the stage of the "Avenue of Stars" and sang a female voice, adapting a pop song based on the drunkenness of a noble concubine of the Tang Dynasty, pioneering the Chinese two-voice singing method. On September 30, 2006, the annual finals of the "Walk of Fame" aired, and he became the third runner-up of the year that year, making his debut. This day is also the debut day defined by Li Yugang, who decided to stay in Beijing. He found a house in the East Third Ring Road to live in, and ended his wandering life, "I settled down." Unlike Ding Zhen,who was officially certified as a tourism ambassador, Li Yugang was facing a huge controversy at that time, how could a person who was not from a science class and was not professional be recognized by everyone in such a form of performance as opera or even drama?
Born in Gongzhuling City, Jilin Province, Li Yugang left his hometown after high school and decided to break out of his own world. He wandered, walked the cave to perform, his life was sloppy, and in 1999 he accidentally sang a female voice, and he ushered in a turning point for survival. Participating in the "Walk of Fame" in 2006 also stemmed from a wrong phone call. After becoming famous, he was not accepted by orthodox opera circles, "My appearance and the form of traditional Chinese opera or Peking opera performance are actually two rivers, and these two rivers can never intersect." 」 Later, Li Yugang sang "Lotus" and "Dream Hunting Order" again, trying to get guidance from the creation and use a Zen way to combat the inner confusion.
On the one hand, to seek recognition, on the other hand, Li Yugang needs to face his own inner problems, which is a deep-rooted sense of crisis. From growing up in an environment of material scarcity, to later being alone and displaced. He still had knife scars on his left leg, left shoulder and head. After the desperate life, Li Yugang was bound by fame and fortune, and he never gave himself a leave, "I kept running, hoping to make myself better, otherwise I would be in crisis all the time." I keep looking for a breakthrough so that I don't panic and I don't get afraid."
In 2010, Li Yugang took a stage play to Japan to perform, and a Japanese artist named Tamazaburo Sakato gave him a good evaluation, saying that this is a very remarkable young artist in China. Back in China, Li Yugang received a lot of positive affirmations, "In the end, no one can really help me, I still step by step to make my wings full, and I have no worries in my heart, and I don't care." I didn't care at the same time, I let go, and told myself that it would be better to follow my own path without distraction, so I just kept going down."
When writing "Just Met You", Li Yugang looked back at the 10-year time point, "The messy thoughts in your heart, you think it is useless, you should return to purity and nature, and then with a grateful heart." 」 The song went viral at the time. Li Yugang approached the public in his own way.
The world is bigger
Li Yugang thought that he would continue to walk along this road, like the masterpieces "New Noble Concubine Drunk" and "Just Met You", drawing nourishment from traditional stories and materials to create. But in 2021, Li Yugang released a completely different song, "Wanjiang". His creation has moved to a new stage, from singing for his own confusion, for fans and family, to singing for the bigger world, "Wanjiang" is full of greater feelings.
Wanjiang was inspired by the pandemic. Before the epidemic, Li Yugang often went to perform abroad, going to Italy and France in Europe, New York and Los Angeles in the United States, but also to Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, and he would stay abroad for almost half a year to perform. In the era of the global epidemic, he found himself able to watch TV and read books at home and enjoy himself. He has a renewed understanding of the society in which he lives — at home, security is a thing that does not need to be worried about, which is a manifestation of the strength of the motherland. So he decided, "Sing a feeling and excitement in his heart to the great motherland."
On May 4, Li Yugang released this song, which is a description of his mood at this stage. But unexpectedly, on Douyin, he saw many people singing this song, from children with microphones to college students under the red flag, "I only knew at that time that the original song "Wanjiang" would empathize with so many people, and also empathize with this era." 」 By July 1, Li Yugang saw on Douyin that almost all the videos released by the official media used "Wanjiang" as background music, and "my excitement has reached a climax." At that moment, he became more aware of the meaning of creation, "that kind of dedication to music, inner feelings, when you continue to innovate and create this word, or when you try to do something, there will be rewards." 」
Therefore, Li Yugang decided to take this song to all directions. In Guizhou, he and his brothers and sisters from ethnic minorities also filmed a Guizhou chapter of "Wanjiang" with the great rivers and mountains of Guizhou. During the interview, Li Yugang said excitedly: "The Guizhou chapter has been liked by many people in Douyin, and at that time I was wondering if I could still shoot the Hangzhou, Fujian, gansu chapters... I'll take a chapter of everywhere I can go in China." Not only the great rivers and mountains, but also the cultural heritage, and even the things we are accustomed to, such as how the tea leaves are transferred from a leaf to your cup, which is also what he wants to share on Douyin.
When the land under his feet became more and more open, Li Yugang also walked a long way in his inner world. Two years ago, Li Yugang's sister died of a sudden heart attack at home. My sister is the only girl in the family, she likes to be free, loves beauty, wears flowery clothes, and her nails have to be smeared beautifully. She travels a lot to enjoy all that nature has to offer her. The death of his sister made him re-examine his life: running, constantly running, is this all about life?
He was trying to give an answer. This year, he has three pots of orchids in his bedroom. He would quietly go to see and observe a pot of orchids, and seeing the slender leaves of the orchids, he remembered the calligraphy of the thin gold body of the Song Dynasty. There are also orchid fingers in the Peking Opera that I have performed for so many years, which can be seen in a pot of plants.
The answer at the end of the long road is unknown, but the world under your feet and the inner world may already be presented on Douyin. After the interview, Li Yugang danced behind the screen of the ink painting and seized the opportunity to shoot several Douyin videos. On Douyin, he is a completely different image from what the public knows: he likes to be funny, speaks with a Northeastern accent, and tells funny passages... He said, "Many people think that I am old-fashioned because of my national style label, and I am very grateful that through TikTok, I can let everyone realize the other side of my life, and I can also be simple and open-minded..."
Under the video of Douyin's "Wanjiang", many netizens said that they hoped that Li Yugang could take this song to the Spring Festival Gala again. In 2012, Li Yugang went to the Spring Festival Gala for the first time, and he clearly remembers that after rehearsing that day, he lay on the floor of CCTV's No. 1 studio, and the tears flowed down. He had struggled and had not been recognized for many years, and he finally had no need to defend himself. But now, the Spring Festival Gala is no longer just an opportunity to make a name for himself, he can focus and completely sing for the wider world.
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Ding Zhen and Li Yugang: Creation allows us to meet
More and more creators met on Douyin, and several creators such as Ding Zhen and Li Yugang formed the "Douyin Annual Highlight Moment". Ding Zhen let more people see Litang and also saw the creator of Litang; and Li Yugang also led more people to follow his steps, travel through the landscape, and rediscover the beauty and purity of life. They illuminate every land with their creations. To this end, on the eve of the wonderful day and night of Douyin, we invited them to open a creative dialogue, through their perspective, to re-appreciate the world behind creation.
People: What's the biggest change in you this year?
Ding Zhen: I used to herd cattle and things like that, but now I'm shooting videos, shooting, interviewing things like that. I used to not understand Chinese, I couldn't speak Chinese, but now I can speak Chinese and understand it. My hometown has also changed a lot, more and more people come to travel, in the past, our hometown had no electricity, no roads, no signals, and now there is electricity, water, roads, and signals. Now I want everything.
Li Yugang: The biggest change in myself may be that I am becoming more and more innocent, it turns out that I will pretend to be old, just like the word says, young people do not know the taste of sorrow, love the upper floor. I always look at mountains not mountains, and water is not water. The biggest change this year is really like the oldest poem, and suddenly it's back, and that's my biggest change. I saw a lot of things, and I suddenly became very happy and was able to return to my heart.
People: What do you think has been the greatest value of your work this year, and at what moment do you feel very accomplished?
Ding Zhen: In the past, many people in my hometown didn't know, many people didn't know what we litang was like, and then I appeared like this, and Litang's friends also played vibrato, took videos, and they also became so red. Many people have known my hometown and liked my hometown, so I am very happy, and they are very happy.
Li Yugang: This year, several more songs have been recognized by everyone. I just pushed the 2021 symphonic version of "Red Ling", this song is also my special intention, because it is an old song, but we refilled the words, the words are particularly exciting, especially there is a word called "everything is spring, you are also a teenager", this is for everyone to hear, but also to the great motherland, after thousands of years of magnificent waves, but the motherland is still flourishing, just young. We are all young, we are still on the road of spring, but also to me, because I have officially debuted for 15 years, it turns out that I have reached the age of no confusion, how should I face my future life, career, and my values and outlook on life.
People: When would you want to shoot TikTok?
Ding Zhen: Sometimes I also want to take pictures of my favorite. Watch some videos, ah, if you see it like this, I remind them that we want to shoot this, because I also want to, because I brought a beautiful video to netizens.
Li Yugang: Because of my work, I went to many places, for example, I went to Guizhou, I was with many brothers and sisters of ethnic minorities in Guizhou, and I would also shoot down the great rivers and mountains in Guizhou, make "Wanjiang" into background music, and make a Guizhou chapter of "Wanjiang". I was thinking that all the places in China where I want to go can be filmed. "Wanjiang" Hangzhou chapter, "Wanjiang" Fujian chapter, "Wanjiang" Gansu chapter, "Wanjiang" Dunhuang chapter, I have such an idea.
People: Will you pay attention to the comments in Douyin?
Ding Zhen: I have read not very good reviews, but what I think to myself is that, like the Tibetan language, I like hundreds of you, and I don't like you tens of thousands. I can't, I can't force him.
Li Yugang:
In fact, on Douyin, I often see the most messages from everyone, like the song "Wanjiang" this song has a lot of messages, because I am also an ordinary person, I see these words that praise me, I will also be excited. The song "Wanjiang" is in the message of Douyin, and I hope that its call for the Spring Festival Gala is the highest. The messages of these fans sometimes really touch me, so I also thank them in particular, and strive to be able to bring the music of "Wanjiang" to the Spring Festival Gala.
October 15th and 16th, 抖抖
Together with TikTok, see the light of creation