How a chicken farmer becomes China’s internet sensation

Shang Yukang, or “warm coziness” by his Kwai name, never thought that one day he could become part of the “Kwai for Social Good” and give a talk in Beijing, the nation’s capital.

Shang grew up in northwest China’s Gansu Province in a county where average income goes below the national poverty line. Like many others in his circumstances, after turning 17, he left his hometown to work in the labor forces.

After working in a number of cities and jobs across China, an unsatisfied Sheng decided to return home with his savings of 40,000 yuan to start his own chicken farm. Even though Sheng’s family opposed this idea, he took the dive and built a new house for the chickens to live. His first batch of 500 chickens all survived.

Thinking of ways to promote his business, Sheng looked into Kwai, a popular short-video social network application founded in China in 2000. “When I felt lost, I started browsing the short videos as a pastime and soon realized I could do the same,” he said. Like the other 400 million daily active users on Kwai’s China application, Sheng made very creative videos that helped him gain more than 420,000 followers.

On his videos he makes his chickens line up in shapes of a heart and auspicious Chinese characters by laying rice tactfully on the ground. People loved his chicken creations and began requesting customized shapes . As his fame increased, the sales of his chicken rocketed too.

Now Sheng has set up a chicken breeding center that distributes chickens to other farmers in nearby provinces. Sheng hopes to “help the neighboring farmers to get rid of poverty and get rich together.”