Who is Li Ziqi? For 7 million watchers on YouTube and 20 million micro bloggers on Sina Weibo, that’s an easy question to answer. She holds an account on each of the two platforms, and uploads her videos about the detailed cooking processes of various kinds of traditional Chinese food.

Li is a craftsperson in a rural area of Southwest China’s Sichuan province. Different from others, she is fond of showing the whole process from the field to the table. For example, in her video about spicy tofu, she starts with harvesting the soy beans, grinding them into powder and making tofu, and then cooks it. Her works also include building a homemade oven to bake bread.

Like the rest of us, Li was probably not born with skills to create the things we see in her videos, but she uses everything and everybody around her as a teacher. Li never attended college, but she shows us how useful self-learning can be in an age of plenty of learning resources.

Li lets the world see one of the most important aspects of the Chinese people, how they live their daily lives. She lets the world know that Chinese people love good food and are good at making art out of even simple raw materials, which have caught the hearts of her global audience.

Moreover, Li’s charming videos show the simple joys of country living, which she can improve by using her head, heart and hands. While others become the product of their environment, she turns her surroundings into her product. Others see problems and feel frustrated, while Li goes and fixes them. We, therefore, can choose to be inspired by her, to seek the artistic solution and enjoy the creativity, joy and relaxation that “doing” life could offer.

Stage Fright

Imagine that you are an actor performing in a play for the first time. You have learned all your lines and you know where to walk on stage. Waiting behind the closed curtain, you can hear the audience whispering and taking their seats.

Then your big moment arrives! The curtain goes up, and the crowd falls silent. All you can see is the spotlight shining down on you. 【小题1】 The inside of your mouth is dry, and your hands are wet.

If you have experienced a moment like this, you know all too well what it means to have stage fright. It is one of the most common types of fear and tends to strike people when they find themselves at the center of attention. 【小题2】 People experience this fear when playing sports, giving a presentation, or even speaking in class. A person who suffers from stage fright may get sweaty hands, a dry mouth, a tight throat, or shaky knees. Stage fright is actually a form of panic, and these feelings are very real.

【小题3】The experience differs from person to person, but the same chemical process occurs in each of us. In reaction to anxiety, our bodies produce a chemical that prepares us to either fight or run away quickly. Scientists refer to this as our bodies’ “fight or flight” reaction. As a result, we feel great energy that makes our hands sweat, our hearts race, and our knees shake.

【小题4】 Practicing your performance and following some simple tips can help calm nerves and manage the feelings caused by anxiety. First, dress comfortably and appropriately. Second, before the performance, take deep breaths and stretch to help relax your body. Third, stay away from drinks that contain caffeine. 【小题5】 Instead, try a banana! Some doctors believe that eating a banana can help calm your heart and the rest of your body. Finally, when you look into a crowd, try to focus on particular people instead of the whole group. These tips have helped many people learn to deal with their fears.