Early interest

About 14 years ago, when Zhao was a grade-one student at a senior middle school in Nanjing, he went to volunteer at the John Magee Library every afternoon. The beautiful library, built more than 100 years ago, ignited his passion for reading. In the following seven years, until graduating from university, Zhao read about 2,000 books.

It changed his life. In senior middle school, Zhao, a top student, excelled at sciences. However, he preferred reading and a slower-paced lifestyle, so he chose to study the arts at university.

"My family lived next to a training school for traditional Chinese opera and many of our relatives were opera performers," he says.

His idea of an enriching life was shaped when he was little, during his interactions with the opera performers, many of whom were in their 50s or older. Their life, in his opinion, was simple — drinking tea every day and performing operas — Zhao recalls.

Naturally, feeling close to traditional culture, he is interested in books about it, as well as art.

He also found that his audience is particularly interested in his videos about people who are representatives of traditional Chinese literati, such as the great poet Su Shi of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), and Li Shutong, a master painter, musician, dramatist, calligrapher, seal cutter and Buddhist monk living in late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

"They are not forgotten, but you need to find a perspective from which to present them," he says.

The success of the short video about Pan urged Zhao to make more short videos about old masters of traditional culture, art, and literature, such as Syrian poet Adonis, Chinese translator Yang Yi, and professor of Chinese literature Mo Lifeng. He also plans to interview Ye Jiaying, an expert on Chinese ancient literature.

"I personally love visiting these masters, even if I don't make videos. After posting the videos, I find people are still interested in them. These writers should not be forgotten. Their current life, personal experience and representative works are interesting," he says.