Fisherman reels in fortune and fame on Internet
Print Edition
Every day at 9am, fisherman Zhang Peng starts work along the mighty Heilongjiang River: he switches on his mobile phone, logs on to his live streaming account and broadcasts his work.
“This is the Wusuli River, in China’s easternmost city, and these are salmon,” Zhang explains during a live streaming session.
He holds a fishing net with both hands, a salmon in the net, while his wife holds a mobile phone to broadcast his catch.
“We just caught seven salmon,” he says.
Zhang, 32, recently became a celebrity because of his live broadcasts on the Internet. In his hometown of Fuyuan, in Heilongjiang Province, he often hears locals scream his name in the fish market.
“I used to be an obscure person in this small town,” Zhang says. “It’s hard to believe that I have become an Internet star.”
Live streaming is big business in China. It generates huge profits for the host websites and propels many performers to overnight fame — not without lining their pockets, too.
By the end of June last year, there were 325 million live-stream users in China — about half of the entire online Chinese community, according to China Internet Network Information Center.
Zhang has 869,000 followers online, nearly seven times the number of residents in his hometown of Fuyuan.
The city is separated from Russia by the Heilongjiang River and its tributary, the Wusuli River. The rivers have an abundance of freshwater fish such as salmon and sturgeons. Locals call the city “Golden Fish Bay.”
Before trying live streaming, Zhang’s life had always been about fishing. “My great-grandfather, my grandfather and my father were all fishermen on the Wusuli River,” he says. “I started fishing when I was a child, and officially became a fisherman when I turned 17.”
Before gaining fame, his life was “just like the average fisherman’s,” Zhang says. His work could only guarantee a “basic life.” Seven years into their marriage, Zhang and his wife had only managed to save 40,000 yuan (US$6,029).
But since he began to broadcast his fishing live online, Zhang’s life has changed significantly. His followers have increased from 20 to more than 800,000. That has increased his earnings because his followers often give him money through the streaming app.
Zhang says he can make more than 1,000 yuan from each live streaming session. He once received more than 5,000 yuan from his followers.
“I think people just love how simple and fun our life is,” says Zhang.
His simplicity aside, the online community loves how he can catch various fish species and the way he introduces the fish, Zhang adds.
This fishing season, he caught a giant catfish that weighed more than 35 kilograms. Zhang held it in his arms and showed it to his online audience.
“The fish was as long as my height,” Zhang says. “It was quite heavy, and my body was nearly bent.”
Sometimes Zhang also shows his followers how the locals enjoy a night of barbecue and beer after a day’s fishing.
Zhang says that the rising number of fish in the river has contributed to the popularity of his live streaming.
“I just want to share the best things along the Wusuli River with my followers, and I hope they will find joy in watching my broadcast,” Zhang says.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
