An online success story

In January 2021, Zhao opened the account Zhao Jian's Reading Diary on WeChat Channels. He started posting videos of about two to five minutes in length talking about books he liked. Initially it struggled to attract viewers.

In July last year, Zhao came across an old book Hua Hun (Soul of a Painter) in a secondhand bookshop in Nanjing. It is a biographic novel of Pan Yuliang, a pioneering female artist. Initially published in 1983, the book details how Pan, born in the late 19th century, became a great painter after enduring life in a brothel. It has been out of print for many years.

Pan's story deeply touched Zhao. Two weeks later, Nanjing Museum ran an exhibition of Pan's paintings. At the exhibition, Zhao found an artistic style he loves, so he decided to make a short video about the painter.

In September, Zhao's video about Pan went viral online and was watched 30 million times. His followers increased dramatically 100-fold from 2,000. The publisher has reprinted the book and, so far, 20,000 copies have been sold.

"Many viewers can empathize with such a story, seeing parallels with their own struggles in hers," Zhao says, explaining why the video was popular.

"They heard about Pan when they were young and knew her story from plays, films or TV series in the 1980s. The video evokes people's early memories. Many of them bought the book for their children," he says, adding that the book itself is a good biographic novel.