China's biggest YouTuber settles dispute with brand management company
Discussing the return of Li Ziqi
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Lǐ Zǐqī 李子柒 is China’s most successful YouTuber, with more than 17.7 million followers. She also has a big following in China, with 7.7 million fans on video-sharing site, Bilibili.
Li is one of China’s early online influencers: a 网红 wǎng hóng or a 网络达人 wǎng luò dá rén. She first rose to prominence in 2015 by posting long-form videos of her idyllic life cooking and doing handicrafts in Sichuan.
Her big breakthrough came with two videos, Cherry Wine (樱桃酒 yīng táo jiǔ) and Lanzhou Beef Noodles (兰州牛肉面 lán zhōu niú ròu miàn), the latter attracting over 50 million views and 600,000 likes.
But since July last year, Li Ziqi has stopped posting content following a dispute with her management company, Hangzhou Weinian Brand Management Co (微念 wēi niàn). Between October 2021 and March 2022, Li and Weinian sued and counter-sued each other five times.
Although the details of the legal battle have not been made public, the dispute is about the ownership of the Li Ziqi brand:
“李子柒”品牌虽收入颇丰,但和李子柒本人关系却不大。这其中的利益分配产生的矛盾,也是李子柒和微念对簿公堂的主要原因
Although the Li Ziqi brand has generated lots of income, it has little to do with Li Ziqi herself. The dispute arising from the allocation of profits is also the main reason why Li Ziqi and Weinian are going to court.
Last week, the legal battle was finally settled:
微念与李子柒在绵阳市中级人民法院的调解下,双方达成和解
Li Ziqi and Weinian reached a settlement under the mediation of the Intermediate People’s Court in Mianyang.
After 530 days of not publishing any new content, the talk in China’s entrepreneurial and business world is that she may soon return with new material.
But can she do it after such a long time away?
在李子柒停更的一年半里,有多个头部网红陨落,从薇娅到辛巴,头部网红的消失,代表着流量的分散。531天,短视频市场已更迭多载,李子柒的回归,究竟能否重现当日辉煌?
In the year and a half since Li Ziqi stopped posting content, many top internet celebrities from Viya to Simba have fallen. Their disappearance means web traffic is more dispersed. Over the last 531 days, the short-video market has been reshuffled many times. Can Li Ziqi return to her former glory?
If Li Ziqi is going to make a comeback, she'll probably do it on Taobao Live through livestream e-commerce:
淘宝直播过去也一直致力于助农直播,这与李子柒一直想做的“共同富裕”事业不谋而合
Taobao Live has also been committed to helping farmers, which aligns with the ‘common prosperity’ theme that Li Ziqi has always wanted to achieve.
So this week we explore discussions of if and how China’s biggest YouTuber might make a comeback.
There’s lots of sector-specific lingo (or 黑话 hēi huà). And as we’ve found with internet slang, the language of internet influencers and business models uses words from English, especially acronyms. Here are some of the main ones you need to know:
IP = Intellectual Property = unique ‘brands’ or 'content' (品牌 pǐn pái, or 内容 nèi róng)
KOL = Key Opinion Leader = ‘influencer’ (网红 wǎng hóng); also 大V ('V' is pronounced wēi), a referenced to the ‘verified’ V on Weibo
MCN = Multi Channel Network = ‘talent management company’ (经纪公司 jīng jì gōng sī)
LP = Limited Partner = ‘investors’ (投资人 tóu zī rén)
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The Favourite Five
1. 拉扯 lā chě
to pull; back and forth; a disagreement that drags on
这场MCN机构与网红的法律诉讼战经过长达近一年的拉扯之后终于有了结果 - The legal battle between the management company and the internet celebrity has finally come to an end after nearly a year of back and forth.
2. 拉锯战 lā jù zhàn
tug of war
这场拉锯战的结局看似“双赢”,实际却可能是“双输” - The outcome of this tug of war looks like a ‘win-win’, but actually it might be a ‘lose-lose’.
More: 锯 jù is a saw in Chinese; the action described is the same as the to-and-fro of tug of war.
3. 对簿公堂 duì bù gōng táng
litigation
停更三个月后,2021年10月,李子柒将微念告上法庭,双方正式决裂,并在一年内数度对簿公堂 - In October 2021, three months after she stopped publishing new content, Li Ziqi took Weinian to court. The two parties formally ended their relationship, and they went to court several times within a year.
Background: In ancient China, this is the phrase you would use to take someone to court. In modern Chinese you can also say 诉讼 sù sòng, or 打官司 dǎ guānsī.
4. 冰释前嫌 bīng shì qián xián
bury the hatchet
李子柒与微念都元气大伤,二者今后的合作是否能彻底冰释前嫌,仍然有待时间考验 - Li Ziqi and Weinian are both seriously damaged. Only time will tell if the two parties can completely put the past behind them when collaborating in the future.
5. 为他人做嫁衣 wèi tā rén zuò jià yī
make wedding dresses for others; work hard but unwittingly for someone else’s benefit
在如此明显的“为他人做嫁衣”情况下,谁又能继续这样不对等的合作关系呢 - In such an obvious case of ‘making a wedding dress for others’, who would continue with such an unequal partnership?
Background: This colloquial phrase is the last line in a poem by Tang dynasty poet, Qín Tāoyù 秦韬玉, called ‘Poor Girl’ (贫女 pín nǚ).
Consuming the conversation
Useful words
坑 kēng
to deceive
大概两年前,网友还为“资本坑了李子柒”这件事情意难平 - About two years ago, netizens were still upset about how capitalists had cheated Li Ziqi.
Note: We discussed this in previous issues. It's a versatile word, and can also mean 'annoying'.
超头 chāo tóu
‘super head’; top influencers
和早先的微博制造大V、KOL一样,抖音极其善于孵化超头 - Like the early influencers on Weibo, Douyin is extremely good at creating big personal brands.
Note: An abbreviation of ‘super top bloggers’ (超级头部主播).
交恶 jiāo è
fall out with each other
在双方交恶期间,去李子柒化的微念已经推出了企图替代“李子柒”的品牌 - During the period of hostilities between the two parties, Weinian lost Li Ziqi and tried to replace her by launching another brand.
取关 qǔ guān
to unfollow someone on social media
当一个博主许久没有更新内容,脱粉取关是再正常不过的的事情 - When a blogger has not posted new content for a long time, it’s very normal for fans to unfollow them.
Note: An internet term which is short for 取消关注 qǔ xiāo guān zhù.
Related: 脱粉 tuō fěn - no longer a fan (no longer like a celebrity)
复出 fù chū
return
目前双方已和解,可以确定,李子柒将于近期复出 - At present, the two parties have reached an agreement, and it is certain that Li Ziqi will make a comeback in the near future.
Note: It’s interesting that none of the media coverage used the idiom 重出江湖 - make a comeback. Our theory is that the idiom sounds too manly and doesn't fit the style of Li.
昔日 xī rì
old days; former
对于李子柒而言,如今回归,执着于在短视频平台找回昔日的流量 - On her return, Li Ziqi will be focused on regaining her former levels of web traffic on the new short-video platform.
桥段 qiáo duàn
trope; a plot that is used many times
无外乎就是MCN机构与网红IP之间由于利益分配不均闹上法庭的桥段,并不能称得上新鲜 - It is nothing more than a story of a disagreement between an agency and an internet celebrity about the uneven distribution of profits. It’s hardly anything new.
Three-character phrases
撕破脸 sī pò liǎn
tear face; show disagreement in public
虽然双方已当众“撕破脸”,但这场博弈的结局并非分道扬镳 - Even though the two sides have had a very public spat, the end result is not that they have parted ways.
More: 分道扬镳 fēn dào yáng biāo - parted ways
双开花 shuāng kāi huā
double flowering; successful on both fronts
还非常少见地在国外平台吸引了大量粉丝,实现了国内国外的双开花 - It is also very rare to attract a large number of fans on overseas platforms. She achieved great success at home and abroad.
杀回来 shā huí lái
kill back; make a big return
停更500多天之后,李子柒终于要杀回来了 - Li Ziqi is finally back after not posting any new content for over 500 days.
Related: 杀出一条血路来 shā chū yītiáo xuèlù lái - achieve the impossible
Idioms
元气大伤 yuán qì dà shāng
badly hurt
交战的一年半中,双方都元气大伤,如今重新携手前行,或许要经历一段漫长的调整期 - Over the year and a half of the battle, both sides were seriously hurt. Now they are moving forward hand-in-hand again, which may take a long period of adjustment.
独树一帜 dú shù yí zhì
unique
在快节奏的商业世界,李子柒的慢,反而让她独树一帜 - In the fast-paced business world, Li Ziqi's slow pace makes her unique.
可见一二 kě jiàn yī èr
see the whole from a small part
现在的时代也许有了新的变化——网友正在变得更加“速食主义”,从“小帅”“小美”们的火爆便可见一二 - Nowadays things may have changed. Internet users are becoming more ‘fast-food-ist’, which can be seen from the popularity of the likes of Liang Meiwei and Chen Zhipeng.
Related:
可见一斑 kě jiàn yì bān - see the whole from a single spot
管中窥豹 guǎn zhōng kuī bào - see a leopard through a tube
物是人非 wù shì rén fēi
things are the same but the people are different
是继续回到“物是人非”的短视频平台继续卷?还是直接一步到位,选择专业的头部电商平台直播带货 - Should she return to the highly competitive short-video platform where everything has changed? Or, should she go straight into selling goods on a top livestream e-commerce platform?
慧眼识珠 huì yǎn shí zhū
wise eyes can tell a pearl; a good judge
也许真的是当初的微念慧眼识珠,在双方展开合作后,李子柒IP和品牌得到了突飞猛进的发展 - Maybe it really was that Weinian spotted Li Ziqi’s talent at the beginning. After they started working together, Li Ziqi's brand has grown in leaps and bounds.
Phrases
名不见经传 míng bú jiàn jīng zhuàn
unknown
彼时,微念也只是一家名不见经传的小公司,旗下没有大火的主播 - At that time, Weinian was just a little-known small company, with no big names under its management.
花无百日红 huā wú bǎi rì hóng
no flower can bloom for a hundred days; a good situation cannot last forever
社交媒体流量平台的算法机制决定了,在抖音花无百日红 - The algorithms of social media platforms mean no one can last a long time on Douyin.
Note: part of a longer phrase: 人无千日好,花无百日红 rén wú qiān rì hǎo huā wú bǎi rì hóng, which we first discussed in January last year.
伤敌一千,自损八百 shāng dí yì qiān, zì sǔn bā bǎi
kill 1000 soldiers but lose 800 of your own; a war of attrition
在这场分蛋糕的宴席上,主角李子柒却只是个局外人,也难怪她会以停更这种“伤敌一千,自损八百”的方式来抗衡 - In this cake-sharing banquet, the protagonist Li Ziqi is however just an outsider. It's no wonder that she decided to fight back by stopping publishing content, even though she hurt herself in doing so.
More: This is a variation on the original idiom 杀敌一千,自损八百 shā dí yìqiān, zì sǔn bābǎi, which we discussed in September last year. It can also be translated as a Pyrrhic victory.
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