Popularizing science, one video at a time

HAIKOU — Deep in a rainforest in Hainan province, Zhang Chenliang picks up a daddy longlegs and presents it to the camera, explaining its features and living habits for the benefit of viewers on the short video platform Douyin.

The 34-year-old is an influential vlogger with expertise in animals, insects and plants, and boasts some 22 million followers.

His humorous expression and distinctive accent have helped him carve out a career as one of the most influential Chinese creators of popular science content.

Born and raised in Beijing, Zhang has had a deep love of nature since he was a child. He loved going to his grandmother's home in the countryside, where the fields were bursting with vegetables and reeds. They were also a natural habitat for insects, which have always intrigued him.

While studying for his bachelor's degree at Nanjing Agricultural University, Zhang focused on an order of insects known as Hemiptera, more commonly called "true bugs", a family that includes insects such as aphids, cicadas and planthoppers. He continued to pursue this interest for his master's degree at China Agricultural University.

In 2011, while he was working as an intern at Nature History magazine, he took control of its official account on China's microblogging giant Weibo, which had about 20,000 followers at the time.

To make the account more appealing, Zhang interacted with followers and answered their questions in a way that was both accessible and professional.

"There are many endemic species in our country, but few people know about them. I pay great attention to my interaction with fans, so that I know what they want to know, and am able to satisfy their curiosity," he said.

Gradually, his influence grew, and he amassed a large number of die-hard fans.

When he graduated from university in 2013, Zhang began working for the Chinese edition of National Geographic magazine. In 2019, he registered a personal account on Douyin to popularize science related to animals and plants, and has since become a big name in the field.

With his influence growing, Zhang felt the urgent need to set up a team.

In March last year, he did just that, forming a team of 10, all under age 30. They registered several new accounts bearing the name of Chinese National Geographic on popular video-sharing apps like Douyin, Kuaishou and Bilibili.

"After we uploaded the first video on Bilibili, our followers passed the 100,000 mark overnight," Zhang said.

Their first video introduced the daily routine of science researchers. Through the team's cameras, the audience was able to embark on a tour around the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, which is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"We have opened a window for everyone to understand nature and science, so that the public feels that science can be interesting," Zhang said.

Recently, Zhang and his team visited Hainan and Yunnan provinces, as well as other places around the country with rich ecosystems, in search of endemic species. With this footage, he plans to make his own style of documentary, one that is easy to understand and accessible to the public.

After watching one of his videos, one young woman was inspired to conduct a field trip of her own, and subsequently applied to study at the Chinese Academy of Sciences hoping to become a biologist.

"That makes me feel that my work is worthwhile, and that what I've been doing is having a positive impact on young people," Zhang said.

Xinhua