(19 Apr 2016) LEAD-IN:
For some aspiring web celebrities, China’s live streaming sites offer stardom.
For others, they might just offer a living, although the competition is tough and the work can be arduous.
Either way with the world’s largest online population at 668 million there’s money to be made for sites and performers.
STORY-LINE:
Inside a cosy cafe bar in downtown Beijing, Wang Weiyi is saying hello to her phone. She is communicating with hundreds of adoring fans.
Wang is a first year college student studying visual communication in the outskirts of the capital.
She started live-streaming her college life five months ago.
It might look like an easy job to earn money.
However, working on this job sometimes requires part-time performers to reach 100 hours broadcasting time per month to gain more followers. That occupies most of their spare time.
Despite the long hours, 18-year-old Wang sees the live streaming as a hobby rather than a job.
"If you treat it as a job, you’ll be tired of it. It’s like after you left school, you still have to broadcast a certain amount of time. You feel tired, but you have to keep a smile on your face while performing. I would feel upset at some point about this," she says.
Many young followers choose to spend time watching their favourite performers after work while more and more newcomers begin to take it on as a career.
The streaming shows are a lively alternative to China’s stodgy state-controlled media that the Communist Party insists on promoting, despite the taste among the young for lighter fare, including foreign programming and soap operas where the themes are fun, money and popularity, not politics.
Online live streaming shows have became increasingly popular in the last three years, especially after Wang Sicong, the son of China’s richest man Wang Jianlin, invested his money in establishing his own live streaming platform.
Platforms are interactive, so users can communicate with performers by sending comments, which can be seen on the screen by other viewers.
Douyu TV, one of the biggest platforms in China, has 100 million registered users and more than 10,000 active performers. The platform is well known for its entertainment and gaming programmes.
Shows vary from computer game live streaming to dancing, singing and outdoor activities.
During performances, erotic elements are sometimes made by female performers with sexy costumes and provocative language to attract more potential subscribers.
Some content goes well past the borders of good taste. The authorities recently cracked down after live pornographic scenes were broadcast on at least two sites. In one case, 34 people in the central province of Anhui were arrested for taking part.
But, otherwise, a popular star with an eye-grabbing programme could have an average of hundreds of thousands of real time viewers.
While watching shows, viewers are encouraged by performers to express appreciation by sending virtual gifts.
The price of gift can start at 10 Chinese yuan (US 1.5 dollars) and go up to any amount. Some adoring users would lavish a virtual Lamborghini or a fancy Rocket worth as high as 500 Chinese yuan (US 76 dollars).
China has 668 million netizens, according to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).
In 2016, the country ended its three decades long one child policy. But the legacy of the policy and a traditional cultural preference of having baby boys, is that China has a highly skewed gender ratio among its young population.
Zheng Lu, a sociologist from Tsinghua University, estimates that there are 20-30 million single men in China.
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