Dialogue with Chen Xian, a million-dollar Internet celebrity blogger at Zhejiang University: I didn't have a monthly income of 10 million, so I made short videos without telling my elders at home

Long report

2024-06-23 16:33Posted on the official account of the Jiupai News Chief Report of Wuhan Morning News, Hubei Province

At the end of June, colleges and universities ushered in the graduation season, and graduates were busy, or finally got their pass cards for the next stop, or they were still wandering at the crossroads, anxious and confused.

Chen Xian is a bit of an exception.

Just after participating in the e-commerce promotion in May and June, this million-dollar Internet celebrity who is about to graduate from Zhejiang University looked a little tired, she lay on the sofa softly and said: "Maybe I want to take a break after a while." The night before, she stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, and her schedule for the next few days was already full.

On Douyin, she has more than 4 million followers, which is the result of her four years of operation. With being funny and even pretending to be ugly, this post-00s with the halo of a school bully stands out on the Internet.

When interviewed, she spoke in a calm tone, chatting about topics of interest, and the volume would unconsciously increase. More often than not, she looks straight ahead, or lowers her head and plays with her nails, plain and gentle. Chen Xian said that away from the camera, she tried to return herself to the most comfortable state, "I want to store energy and release it in front of the camera." ”

Below the recently released video, there is a highly praised comment, "While other students are still busy looking for jobs and going to graduate school, Chen Xian has gained financial freedom and can do what she wants for the rest of her life." ”

"It depends on how you define financial freedom." Chen Xian denied the rumors of a monthly income of 10 million, and the income of bloggers may be higher than that of going to work, but buying a house in Hangzhou is also the next stage for her. She was born in a single-parent family with average economic conditions in the county, and even though she has long been financially independent, she still retains her low-materialistic consumption habits.

This year, Chen Xian began to build her own team. Four years ago, when she was in charge of all the creative work by herself, she thought that having a million followers was a distant point, and now that she looks back, she realizes that she has come so far.

Chen Xian (@陈闲闲闲) was interviewed by Jiupai News.　Photo/Jiupai News Yang Zhen

[1] I didn't expect myself to be so popular

Jiupai News: How did you come up with the idea of starting to shoot short videos?

Chen Xian: In order to relieve stress, I liked to watch short videos when I was in high school. There are many works on the platform that opened my eyes. So as an audience, I also want to be a creator of this platform at the same time.

So after the college entrance examination, that is, in July 2020, I started making short videos.

Jiupai News: The cycle of many self-media creators becoming popular in the early stage is uncertain, how long did it take you? How did you hold on?

Chen Xian: It took me nearly half a year to come out with a small hit, when I had five or six thousand followers, and I received snacks from advertisers, and the video content was that I distributed these snacks to my classmates, and since then I have slowly started to increase my followers. In half a year, the number of my followers rose to about 20,000. In the past, the number of fans, likes, and comments were very small. Although there are often moments of discouragement, there is always a renewed fighting spirit. I also like to watch short videos, and I watch them every day.

I may have been acting in front of the camera before, but this video has brought me ideas and new inspiration, and it turns out that netizens are more interested in this kind of real thing.

Jiupai News: What do you find the most difficult part of the video creation process?

Chen Xian: On the one hand, there is the creative inspiration, and on the other hand, there are the limitations of the objective environment.

In the early stage, I only had one person, and I only had a dormitory for the shooting scene, and the material was relatively limited in all aspects, and this difficulty and limitation became more obvious the more you went to the back. I kept meditating, and in my sophomore year, I signed up for the strongest brain, and enriched my material by appearing on the show. In the second semester of my sophomore year, I also discovered the creative mode of one person playing multiple roles.

Jiupai News: Did you expect to be so popular?

Chen Xian: What I'm getting now is something I didn't expect before my freshman year, maybe at that time I thought that four or five hundred thousand, or one million followers was already a lot. I think what I'm getting now is the result of luck, platform support, opportunities and other factors.

I've been making short videos since 2020, and I've seized some opportunities. In addition to the advantage of time, on the other hand, it may also be because of my particularity, that is, to shoot funny videos with the aura of a scholar.　

Most of the videos created by Chen Xian in her early days were shot in her bedroom.　Screenshot of picture/video

I don't admit defeat and will keep going. Even if there is no way to become a million bloggers in the end, it should still continue to explore, and I think it is no problem to achieve hundreds of thousands of fans.

Jiupai News: Is it true that the Internet says that you are free in wealth and earn tens of millions of dollars a month?

Chen Xian: There are definitely not so many, and many marketing accounts will exaggerate some facts. How can there be so many, I don't understand it at all.

The job of a blogger is to bring exposure, and he will also receive advertisements, which may have a little star effect. Some celebrity advertisements may be sky-high, but bloggers are not so exaggerated, but relatively speaking, the income is more considerable than that of working part-time. But at the same time, there will be a lot of uncertainty, for example, if the data is not good enough, it may not be harvested.

For recent college graduates, the income of a blogger can meet the needs of renting, personal food, clothing, housing and transportation, but if you want to buy a house in Hangzhou, it is a matter of the next class, which is not realistic for me at present.

[2] I have been questioned by my classmates in school

Jiupai News: Are you similar to what you are in the video in real life?

Chen Xian: When I was in high school, I was closer to the state in my videos, which was funny, and many of my classmates would also suggest that I become a comedy blogger. But after entering the university and slowly growing up, there were more things, and the energy was slowly released, and I was not so outgoing in private. Now my personality will be more like "Chen Tian".

Jiupai News: After becoming a blogger, has your life been affected?

Chen Xian: I don't know if it's because I'm too recognizable or for other reasons, but people who see me online can basically recognize me in real life. This situation should have occurred as early as the second semester of freshman year.

I know some bloggers who are not so recognizable in reality, and they don't have to wear a mask when they go out like me. But I can always be recognized, such as going to the mall to buy milk tea or eating, and the waiter can always recognize me, so I usually wear a mask. When recognized, some people would come to me with paper and pen to sign it.

Actually, I didn't really want to be recognized, and I felt that my life might be affected a little bit. Being recognized makes me feel less comfortable in an environment where I am being noticed. And I also feel that the people who recognize me don't necessarily like me, and I worry that I will be stared at by people who don't like me.

Usually walking on the street, Chen Xian is also used to wearing a mask.　Photo/Jiupai News Yang Zhen

Jiupai News: Have you ever heard doubts after becoming popular?

Chen Xian: On our school's internal website or forum, I have seen a lot of people criticize me, and there are quite a few likes and echoes at the bottom of such posts. When there are enough voices like this, it makes me wonder if I'm really in the minority.

When I first came into contact with this, it was probably at the end of my freshman year, when my followers had just risen to 1 million, which was the hottest node of that period. I've found that the doubts that come about me always come up at the node, that is, after a period of fire.

Relatively speaking, I think the doubts from the alumni of Zhejiang University are more powerful than those of ordinary netizens.

Jiupai News: How to mediate?

Chen Xian: It will be uncomfortable at first, and it will take time for this inner strength to take time. I'll think about what the reason is, and I think it's probably true that we're not doing enough content. But I won't give up or don't do it because of these voices, but I will be sad for a while. I think this is also something that every Internet celebrity will face after becoming bigger.

Now I don't hear these voices completely indifferent, but as I absorb them, I will be more rational.

Jiupai News: What do the people around you think of you as a short video Internet celebrity?

Chen Xian: My friends and classmates around me are still quite supportive, most of them don't make much fuss about this matter, and some of them are not the audience of short videos. In fact, at first, my mother didn't know that I was making short videos, she didn't support and allow it at that time, and felt that making short videos was unserious and a waste of time, but she also likes to watch short videos herself, and she can shoot them, she doesn't want me to be affected by this kind of thing, so I haven't told her, and I may have set up a block for her.

Later, one of my relatives said that it was leaked, and I already had more than 1 million followers at that time. When she saw what I was doing, she was less objectionable.

[3] Set up a team to start a formal business, and considered continuing his studies

Jiupai News: It seems to outsiders that you have already had a successful career when you were studying, why do you still plan to go to graduate school?

Chen Xian: The three of us in the dormitory took the exam together, and we took the same major, but from different schools, and I applied for the accounting major of Peking University. Originally, neither of us majored in this major, but after I did some research, I thought this major was good, and they were all convinced by me.

In the end, everyone didn't get in, and I was very busy during that time, almost naked, and the scores weren't particularly bad, but I definitely couldn't get in. If I can get in, I will still go to graduate school, after all, it is Peking University.

Jiupai News: Tell us about the scale of the studio now.

Chen Xian: Together with me in our studio, there are now seven or eight people in total. Most of them are post-00s, about the same age as me, and many of them are fresh graduates. I also pulled up this team, and when I first became a blogger, I didn't know how to do it, and I couldn't be busy alone, so I signed a contract with an MCN. After the expiration of the 3-year contract, we ended peacefully. Then I started to set up my own studio.

Chen Xian's studio used to do live broadcasts, the first floor was for live broadcasts, and the second floor was her personal rest area.　Photo/Jiupai News Yang Zhen

Jiupai News: What do you value when you set up a studio and recruit employees?

Chen Xian: I pay more attention to ability, not necessarily to have practical experience, but to see his learning ability and other aspects of adaptability to us. Each employee will have a probationary period, during which they will see if they are suitable.

Jiupai News: The age of the employees is similar to yours, and some people have been in the industry for a longer time than you, will they worry about the difficulty of management?

Chen Xian: I don't do too much management, I think we are in a cooperative relationship, not that I am overwhelmed by the authority that is one level higher than you, but a flat and cooperative relationship. I think that for a team to run for a long time, both parties need to be in a comfortable state.

Jiupai News: What is the arrangement for graduation?

Chen Xian: May and June are busy days for e-commerce, and I was working overtime the night before and staying up until the early hours of the morning. At the same time, I also have to take care of some video creation, and I have to participate in a show in a few days. At the same time, it is necessary to prepare various arrangements for leaving school.

Jiupai News: After graduation, you found another way to start a business and become an Internet celebrity. As a minority, how do you feel about your peers around you?

Chen Xian: I think everyone has their own choice, but in fact, I was not very confident in the first few years of university. Because many students can get high GPAs, scholarships, and graduate offers. At that time, I always felt that they were doing something more advanced, I felt that they were exploring the frontier of human intelligence, and I felt that doing academic work was a more threshold and a more high-end thing.

Later, I met some teachers who helped me sort out the pattern of development, and I began to gradually calm down. Looking at myself and them, I won't judge them too much, at least for now, I'm happy with my current situation and choices. Maybe for me, I don't feel that much about graduating, because I've been in contact with society almost since I entered university.

Jiupai News reporter Yang Zhen and intern reporter Yan Huayang report from Hangzhou, Zhejiang

Edited by Gu Zixuan

[Source: Jiupai News]

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