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Surge for China’s New YouTube, Hashtag “Study with Me”

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A new-found hunger for knowledge among China’s younger generations is driving the success of self-made tutorial video websites, in the process creating a much more YouTube-like, online-video ecosystem, but one with a twist.

Bilibili, originally known as a video website mainly for manga and the like from Japan, is no longer labeled as a hub for anime lovers. Among the nearly 100 million monthly, active, young users of Bilibili, there are not only users chasing superstars and watching dramas, but also enthusiasts keen on food, cosmetics, digital technology and learning.

Some 18.27 million people have used the website for study purposes in the past year, twice the number of students who took the College Entrance Examinations in 2018. The live broadcasting hashtag “Study with Me”, has been promoted as the largest active category of live broadcasting on Bilibili, while such study broadcasts totalled 1.46 million hours in 2018.

College Entrance Examinations, Postgraduate Examinations and various vocational skill tutorials are also ubiquitous on Bilibili, along with language learning, especially English and Japanese. Especially popular are the learning methods and skills shared by top, grassroots, online celebrities, who have scored more than 650 points in CET-4 and CET-6, without preparation. 

More unconventionally, videos from some native speakers, who teach how to speak authentic English in a life-like way are popular. A British video maker, Fu Linfang, sharing his life experience in China, has gained more than 1.39 million followers on Bilibili.

While practical tutorial videos are the mainstream, cultural documentaries have also caught young people’s attention. For example, the documentary “I Build Cultural Relics in the Palace Museum”, made by CCTV at the end of 2016, has garnered more than 4.5 million views, perhaps illustrating that this generation of young people are not so keen on mindless entertainment as the elderly imagine. On the contrary in fact; according to CCTV, young people are now considered to be full of curiosity for knowledge, deeply attracted by the profound and meaningful.

Yet, that which sets Bilibili apart from other video websites is the fact it is the pioneer which created so-called “Barrage”, a live commenting system that allows instant interaction with other viewers. In the eyes of Generation Z, learning is not just the acquisition of knowledge; instead, relatively rich learning resources and a pleasant learning progress are becoming the main criterion for consideration.

Bilibili is far more than a hip, new, substitute for YouTube. Most of the videos are made by ordinary people, generating their own ideas, then shooting and editing the videos all by themselves; a younger generation that is eager to find its own identity by expressing itself.

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