In simplest terms, cottagecore is a celebration of the slower pace of life involving polished images of an idyllic lifestyle living off the land and farm.
In China and many parts of the world where people become increasingly disillusioned by the demands of a fast-paced, modern society and yearn for the down-to-earth experience that our ancestors lived, the cottagecore genre has also seen explosive growth as a gateway to imagine ourselves living in such tranquil, peaceful situations.
We too, have become in love with these stress-relieving videos that whisk us to the rural countrysides of China where we watch vloggers like Li Ziqi and Dianxi Xiaoge grow, cook and make everything they use from scratch.
Holding the Guinness World Record for having the most subscribers for a Chinese language channel on YouTube, we can't start this list without mentioning Li Ziqi.
She has become known for amazing cinematography and high production value that captures her work in rural Szechuan (living with her grandmother) ranging from farming and cooking to making her own tables and embroidery.
Li Ziqi, however, is reportedly still locked in a legal battle with her business partners, which explains why her last video dates back to July 2021.
Besides Li Ziqi, another hugely successful Chinese cottagecore YouTuber is Dianxi Xiaoge, whose real name is Dong Meihua. A former police officer, her content focuses on living off the land, whether it is through means of farming or foraging in the wild.
The Yunnan native, who is also lovingly referred to as Penji by her family, largely shows off the culture of the Dai ethnic minority, but has since embarked on a series looking at the culture and food of other minorities in China.
Known by her YouTube channel name, Wild Girl, or Ye Xiao Mei, lives in rural Guizhou. With picturesque mountains, rivers and forests as backdrops, Wild Girl lives off the land and grows her own food, which she then uses to make a slew of dishes for her family and herself.
Laotai Arui is a Muslim lady hailing from Yunnan, the same province as Dianxi Xiaoge. Because of her religion, we get a glimpse of how the life of a Chinese Muslim can be like as Laotai Arui prepares food for her daily life and for significant religious events. She brings us along as she celebrates these festive periods.
Together with her adorable daughter and husband, Long Meimei presents the picture-perfect idyllic family life in the Chinese countryside. She shows off the various fresh produce in her region, including those that might be foreign to us like the akebia quinata or chocolate vine fruit.
Age is but a number as Guangxi Grandma proves in her videos. The elder is still going strong as she grows, harvests, cooks and preserves food all on her own for herself and her family. Her grandchildren also make occasional cameos as they learn from her by the hearth.
Fujian is a province where many Chinese in Singapore can trace their lineages to. The food that Fujian Grandma makes might not be the most unfamiliar but her videos are nevertheless still imbued with the pastoral, slow living quality emblematic of the cottagecore genre.
On the opposite end of the age spectrum, we have the young Li Zhangliu. Likely to be a millennial, her age isn't a barrier to her knowledge of working in the fields and cooking up a feast for her family.
A mother to a son, Ermi Chuiyan's videos are well-made and show off her skills in the kitchen, such as how she makes an interesting fermented soybean and watermelon sauce here.
In the strictest sense, Summer Kitchen, which is fronted by a lady named Chen Ershi, isn't exactly of the cottagecore genre as she is located in a city in the Guangdong province nor does she farm her own food.
However, Chen Ershi greatly makes up for it with her personable character and being an attainable goal for us city dwellers as she shows off recipes, herbal remedies and local culture.
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This article was first published in The Singapore Women's Weekly.
