Reading marks new chapter in internet age
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E-mail China Daily, May 21, 2021
Bai Yun enjoys sharing their reading preferences online. [Photo provided to China Daily]
"I'm a pragmatist. Whatever books I read, I like to relate them to my life, put myself in other people's shoes and share my feelings. Many fans are interested in this," she said.
"Young people want to know about every aspect of society and others' lives. It's inspiring for them when they associate characters or incidents in a book with real life."
Bai, who loves music, carefully chooses background accompaniment to match the content of a video to convey certain emotions. She said fans welcome her reading some passages of a book aloud.
When she was writing her postgraduate thesis in 2017, her back ached so much that a doctor told her to spend less time on her phone.
Bai bought a reading rack and started to immerse herself in books and to make videos, one of which was recommended on Bilibili, encouraging her to produce more.
"I'm grateful that I have continued to make these videos for the past few years, which is a significant move for me. Even though I want to give this up every month, I have decided to keep going," she said.
"Through making videos, I've formed the good habit of reading, and my character has been shaped by extensive reading. Compared with previously, I'm more mature and open-minded, feel empathy for others and see things from multiple perspectives," she said.
Bai believes that through reading books people gradually remodel themselves, building their values and outlook on life.
However, along with her counterparts, she has found it time- and energy-consuming to make the videos. She said it is difficult to find enough hours to do this regularly, especially when she is busy at work.
It takes Bai 12 hours to produce a video－with the time equally devoted to scriptwriting, filming and editing.
Initially, she improvised, but spent many hours editing. When opinions on her videos were divided, some netizens posted negative comments, so Bai began to pay more attention to scriptwriting.
As she has gained an increasing number of fans, whose tastes differ, Bai has found it hard to know the type of content they want.
She often reads their comments and messages, adjusting her content to cater to different needs. However, she described this process as "like wading across a river by feeling for the stones, as many fans watch the internet but never post their requests".
