Sanskaar sells

Li Ziqi seen performing daily chores. Pics courtesy/Liziqi, YouTube

A young woman from rural China, Li Ziqi, has become an Internet sensation after filming herself performing daily chores. Her video content has won the hearts of many in her own country, including the hard-to-please Chinese government. Chinese people and an international audience are in awe of her astonishing set of skills, ranging from cooking to furniture making. A whopping 58 million people watch her content on various streaming platforms.

There are many Chinese vlogging channels portraying rural themes. But, what sets Li Ziqi apart is the fairytale-esque quality and uniquely slow pace of her videos. For instance, she is mounted atop a horse and she rides it to an ethereal forest to pick some flowers in one video. In another video, she hatches baby ducklings who later grow old and lay eggs. She then uses these eggs to make her salted duck sauce recipe in the video.

Li Ziqi is graceful and she makes living in a village look like a dream. Viewers, who are fed up of their busy, citified lives, seem to be seeking her content to escape their own reality. Acknowledging this in an interview with South China Morning Post, the 29-year-old vlogger elaborates, "In today's society, many people feel stressed. So when they watch my videos at the end of a busy day, I want them to relax and experience something nice, to take away some of their anxiety and stress." She went to a city at age 14, looking for a job. When the lustre of an urban life dimmed, she returned to her village in the Sichuan province.

8.21mn
No. of followers on her YouTube page

It's viral

Cereal, on the rocks

Kiss musician Gene Simmons sent twitterati into a tizzy when he posted a picture of his breakfast with the caption, "Anyone else put ice cubes in their cereal?" Simmons's tweet has been retweeted over 6,000 times. Food lovers are divided on whether his seemingly unique preference is normal or bizarre. Pic/@genesimmons, Instagram

Briefs

Man sues firm over $60k Pokemon card

Dubai-based Marwan Alkhaja is suing a shipping depot in Queens, New York, for misplacing his collectible 'Trainer number 3' Pokemon card. "Nothing that is mid-five figures is 'just a card', and it is one of the rarest collectibles," said Mark Zaid, his lawyer, to the New York Post.

Mum in trouble for saving kids from fire

A woman in North Korea is under investigation by State Security officials, after she failed to rescue portraits of Kim II-sung and Kim Jong-il. She has been accused of committing a political crime for letting them burn, as she prioritised rescuing her children.

Customer charged for stupid question

The next time you ask a question, think twice. A customer posted a picture of their bill from Tom's Diner, an eatery in Denver, on Reddit. The last item on the receipt 'Stupid Question $0.38,' has people laughing. The diner has listed 'stupid questions' under the sides section on its menu.

Out of left field

A leaking tampon has often been the source of worry. Americans Amanda Brief and Jacob McEntire have designed a smart tampon to solve this problem. The tampon, known as my.Flow, sends users a text to remind them that it needs to be changed. Users can check their phone's app to see how full their tampon is. A monitor, the size of a
compact mirror, is attached to the user's waistband. The monitor is then connected to a my.Flow tampon through its string, transmitting data to the app via Bluetooth. The team is currently trying to crowdfund the product.

Pati, patni aur woh

A woman, Edna Mukwana, caught her husband cheating on her with another woman, in their bed. She kicked him out of their house immediately. What the spurned spouse did next has been receiving international attention.
She offered to sell him to his mistress for 2,000 Kenyan shillings. "But she sent me KES1700 ($17) instead," said Mukwana to GhanaWeb. She took the decision after her husband didn't return home for seven days after being kicked out. We don't know if she expected her husband's mistress to respond with a counter offer but she decided to go ahead and take it. She used the money to buy her children new clothes. "I have used all the money to buy new year clothes for my children," added Mukwana. When asked if she would forgive her cheating spouse, she clarified that there was no chance of that happening, because "I don't want to get into the new year with the 2019 nuisance."

Pic of the day

Kagaz kay phool

The Ukranian-Russian artistic pair Asya Kozina and Dmitriy Kozin have been creating elaborate and extravagant wigs, made entirely of paper. The couple draw their inspiration from the ancient Baroque and Rococo style of wigs. Pic/@asya_kozina, Instagram

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