Written by: Economic Daily
Posted on: August 08, 2018 | 
| 中文
Ma Xiqing on his live show
Ma Xiqing, a fisherman in Jiaozhou, Shandong, is different from other online live show hosts. While others perform through singing, dancing and game shows, he performs by fishing out in the sea. With an increase in his fan-base, the sea food he harvests is sold in many other places of the country. Online buyers, including those in Beijing, Shanxi, and Xinjiang, send him their orders of over 1,500 kg every month.
“Ever since I started online live shows last year, I’ve been receiving an average of 80 orders online per day, with a highest record of over 300 orders, which was unbelievable,” says Ma, who started fishing at 16 and sold his harvest at docks when he returned from the sea. Last year, he joined the trend with the help of his daughter and opened up his own online store. “The business was miserable at the beginning. Sometimes for a whole day there was not a single order.”
Last September, Ma saw his daughter watching online shows on her cell phone. “It was fascinating to see those hosts promoting their products while singing and dancing.” Ma thinks what matters the most is that the younger generation is interested and is willing to watch.
“Many people eat sea food, but not many of them really know how it is harvested.” Based on this idea, the 53-year-old Ma Xiqing came up with the idea of broadcasting his fishing activity online, so he learned to broadcast online live shows from the younger lot. At the beginning he would always miss the camera, but eventually he was able to master it. From an embarrassing introduction to a live interaction with the viewers, Ma learned quickly and its effect was surprisingly good.
“I used to think that only beautiful young women host online live shows and it must be impossible for an old man like me. It never occurred to me that I can be an ‘online celebrity’ and have more than 30 thousand fans,” Ma laughed. He said that he usually conducted live shows in his boat or at the dock, and he always introduced sea products based on their categories to the viewers.
“Look at this crab. It has greenish claws, so it’s an authentic Red Island crab.” “This kind of fish is called ‘guata’ and it dies quickly when outside water.” Besides these introductions, setting up a small stove and cooking pot, Ma also introduces the most traditional cooking methods of the Qingdao fishermen’s seafood that he catches and washes. Every time, when the viewers watch him cooking, they send him pictures of “drooling faces” one after the other, which makes him feel proud.
The vivid commentary given by Ma during the live show is so intriguing that the viewers enquire, “How much is this crab for?” “How much is your mantis shrimp for?” “Can you guarantee its freshness once it’s delivered?” Ma always answers patiently during the online interaction and also jokes. Once a viewer mistakenly typed “cab” instead of “crab,” to which Ma jokingly replied, “Sorry I don’t have any cabs to sell ‘cause they’re too big to wrap!”
Ma said that he used to make many mistakes during the process. “I couldn’t understand the Internet lingo when I first started this show.” Now he knows the meanings of some Internet words such as “lao tie” (“old mate”), “666,” (“cool,” “awesome”) and “taolu” (“ways or “trick”).
“Captain Ma, you’re the hottest!” “You’ve been working so hard, have a rest, Old Ma.” The heart-warming notes left by his most loyal fans every time Ma sets out to the sea, make him more and more determined to continue his live show. “I hope I can sell my harvest to more distant places where people can enjoy the sea flavors of Jiaozhou,” he says.
Translated by Zhu Siyu
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