Abstract: Jiang Minci, who was nearly ninety years old in , is one of the oldest up hosts at station B. In this online community where young people gather, nearly 80% of users are her grandchildren. In April of this year, she became interested in station B through her grandson, and also tried to become an up master. In 3 months, she accumulated 270,000 fans, and was also invited to record a birthday video for the 11th anniversary speech at Station B.
Initially, she just wanted to use video to complete her wish to write an autobiography. After seeing the feedback from netizens, I found that it didn't stop there. Fleeing from arranged marriages and working hard to recruit only 10% of the girls in the railway school... the young man reflected her story into his own life, seeming to find a kind of spiritual backing at the moment. She originally thought that retirement was the curtain call, but now she has rediscovered her use.
Jiang Minci and her "Silver TV" medal. Photo by Chen Yihan.
text | Chen Yihan
editor | Mao Yijun
"Intruder"
click Jiang Minci's B station video, you will find that the barrage is a bit special: for other up owners, fan reminders are more normal, if only after a week or two Update, the top of the screen will be filled with "Missing Persons Return", and here, she is calling her to take a break and not update frequently; other up subjects are slowed down, and everyone is enthusiastic about "2 times faster food is better" But for her, don't worry, we can adjust the speed by ourselves...
More often, countless "good grandma" flew over Jiang Minci's head. On the screen, she is sitting in front of the sewing machine, her cheeks are meaty, her eyes are two crescents, and her white hair is docile under the headband.
is at station B, she can indeed be the grandmother of many people. She is also unsure of her true age. According to her ID card, she is 87 years old. According to the family tree, she has to add two years old. In the past three years, the average age of new users at station B was 21 years old, younger than some of her grandchildren and granddaughters.
Jiang Minci had heard of the name of station B a long time ago, and knew that it was a website for young people, so he didn't understand it deeply. During this year's epidemic, senior colleges could not be opened, and friends who climbed mountains and boxed together could not meet. She was looking for new fun.
One day, the grandson Doudou, who lives with him, talked and laughed in front of the computer. Jiang Minci asked and realized that he was making a video at station B. Doudou is an up host of station B. There are not many fans. The videos are mainly games and vlogs, and the update frequency is very random. She turned out a piece of manuscript paper and asked Doudou to write down the name of the website. Go back to the room, turn on the phone, connect to the Internet, and enter "bilibili" in the search bar-
, a new world appears.
Three months have passed. Jiang Minci can't remember what he went shopping at station B at the beginning. The feeling is as clear as yesterday, summed up in two words, fun. For a few days in a row, as long as she had free time, she would open station B and look for fun in videos and barrage. New ideas for
are also emerging: Jiang Minci has always wanted to write an autobiography, but his writing is not good. If you dictate those interesting experiences and publish them in video clips, wouldn't it be what you want? It happened that during that time there was a "Rising Star Project" poster on the homepage of station B, encouraging newcomers to become up owners, so she ran and said to Doudou that I also wanted to try.
Doudou looked surprised: No, no, this is a place for young people, how can old people come to play?
Jiang Min is familiar with these words. Before many things, the children said she couldn’t do it, but didn’t they still get it? In 2014, she went to visit the Three Gorges alone and learned to send text messages the day before departure. The three elderly people on the same tour were younger than her, but they all relied on her to communicate with her home. In order to improve efficiency, she asked the young people on the ship how to send them in groups. The mobile phone had no traffic, and she learned to send photos by MMS. Two years ago, she studied video production at the University for the Elderly, stringing old photos into videos and showing them to classmates reunions.
This time, Jiang Minci still refused to listen. She found the complete rules of the "New Star Project", studied it from beginning to end, confirmed that there were no restrictions on age, and went to lobby again and again, and finally convinced Doudou. The first step for
to become an up master is to give a proper name. Jiang Minci thinks it is very simple, so he is called "Minci is not old". The theme of the video was also quickly determined: "Since you said I am an elderly person and said I can't do it, I will ask station B and the netizens, can I do it?" There is no outline, no exercise, and she recorded with her back to the computer desk. In the first video, the monitor behind him still stays on the homepage of station B. She set the title herself: I'm 90 years old and can comeIs station B the master of up?
Jiang Minci asked netizens in the first video whether he can be the host of the ups, and many bulletins are welcome. Video screenshot.
Jiang Minci didn't think about how many people would see his video. Doudou knows that the first video of most people only has dozens or hundreds of views. He thought that it is rare to see an elderly up host after all, so please ask his fans to help repost it, maybe there will be thousands of broadcasts. The actual situation of
far exceeds expectations. The video was released at noon on April 30 this year. When I watched it at night, it has been played hundreds of thousands of times. I woke up the next morning and the data climbed to more than 2 million. The number of fans is also rising rapidly, surpassing 100,000 within two days. This kind of speed is fast or slow. Jiang Minci has no idea, so Doudou uses himself as an example: in more than two years, he has accumulated 10,000 fans at station B, and his grandma has exceeded this number in just a few hours. How long has it been twice, five times, ten times...
in station B as a biography
Jiang Minci had the idea of writing an autobiography. It has been 10 years since I said. She did a lot of attempts. At first, she started with a pen. Later, she studied mobile photography at the university for the elderly. She discussed with the teacher and put important photos into videos to make another form of autobiography. But the conditions are not good, I have chosen to choose, and I haven't found many suitable photos. The older
is, the more she feels powerless, and sometimes she writes the first word and forgets the second. A few months ago, she looked for a handbook dedicated to writing autobiography, but it didn't help much.
She always said that she is an ordinary person. But her life experience is just like a miniature, reflecting the typical picture of Chinese society in the past 90 years. In her view, if the country is not liberated and society is not progressing, it will be difficult for her to live as she is now. These memories appeared on her station B channel little by little, like pieces of a puzzle, gradually pieced together her life.
In the 1930s, in Jiangcun, Jianggao, Guangzhou, the bad habits of binding feet had not been completely eliminated. When Jiang Minci was four or five years old, she once witnessed girls of the same age being forced to bind her feet, crying and screaming after she broke her toes. She can still remember them clearly. At that time, some big families were going on blind dates, and the man’s family was separated by a door curtain that was a little bit higher from the ground, first to see if the girl’s feet were “three-inch golden lotus”. When
was young, the feeling of inequality appeared in her subconscious. Fortunately, she was born in a relatively enlightened family. Her mother had never tied her feet before, and her grandmother later untied the foot wraps. In her growth experience, the elders did not even mention this matter.
She made up her mind since she was a child that she could not live like a woman in feudal society. On the Ching Ming Festival, all the males of the family went up to the mountain to worship their ancestors. Girls were not allowed to participate. Jiang Min wanted to go. The elders disagreed, and she quietly followed behind the large army, only to be found by her grandfather, scared her with a stick, and chased her all over the mountain.
In the year of graduating from junior high school, an overseas Chinese wife from a neighboring village made a special trip back to China to find a daughter-in-law, and she fell in love with Jiang Minci. At that time, the Jiang family was embarrassed. His father and several uncles were unemployed. This wife lived in San Francisco, USA, and had a gold mine at home. Many people couldn't ask for this marriage, and the elders thought she would like it. Only the mother felt sorry for her, she would marry when she was still studying, and followed her own footsteps.
During the liberation of Guangzhou in 1949, Jiang Minci took a group photo with several teachers and classmates of junior high school. Photo courtesy of the interviewee.
Jiang Minci’s grandfather is a nouveau riche and has 11 children, only one is a daughter. Because of this, my mother got a lot of preference, studied more books, and got good grades. Even so, he still couldn't defy his parents' orders and got married and became pregnant before graduation.
Jiang Minci has heard too much nagging from his grandma since he was a child, and he is a child who hasn't beaten him. The mother drank safflower water back then and wanted to have a miscarriage on her own, but was sent to the hospital by her elders in time. Grandma Tai always said that this grand-daughter-in-law only went bad after reading: "Women should have a little duty, have children, and have more lives." Jiang Minci did not accept this fate, but could not change the family's decision. Escape from marriage and go to Guangzhou to take the exam. This is the cruelty she finally committed. She quietly bid farewell to her mother. Before dawn, she packed two changes of clothes and a torn quilt in a linen bag, took all the books, and dragged and carried them all the way. It took more than 4 hours to walk from Jiangcun to Guangzhou. Aunt's house in the city. Later, she participated in the high school entrance examination that year as she wished and got a good result.
Now, this experience has become an oral video, which was sent to B by Jiang MinciStation, many barrage are praising her courage. In the comment area, someone contacted the "Back Wave" speech. The video posted by B on the Youth Day stated that although he did not live as the "Back Wave" in the speech, he was much luckier than the "Front Wave"; some people regret that their grandmother did not. Can escape the feudal marriage; some people ask: How did you meet your grandpa later?
Jiang Minci really entered into marriage, 12 years later. In 12 years, many people have been looking for her, but she has been waiting. She has her own set of standards: to have a common language, to be upright, it is best to be peers and to be able to work together. Every article must be in compliance, not just. When
was 30 years old, Jiang Minci waited for his ideal target. After a year of free love, the two married. For her married life, she can't think of an unpleasant experience. "The only dissatisfaction is that he didn't talk about credibility and left in his 70s. It was not the old age as agreed at the time." She smiled, tears in her eyes.
women can be
Jiang Minci’s B station watch list is very short, only 21. She took the initiative to mention two of these accounts, one is teacher Dai Jianye from Central China Normal University, and the other is Tsinghua University.
Here, hiding her biggest regret in this life-the unfulfilled college dream.
Jiang Minci’s school career started amidst artillery fire. After the Pearl Harbor Incident, she fled to Hong Kong with her mother, and later returned to the mainland to look for her father who was wounded in a self-defense guerrilla war. Afterwards, the family fled from Shaoguan to the northwest. Everywhere in Hunan, Hubei, and Sichuan, they went to school for a while, and the Japanese army came again.
When Japan surrendered in 1945, Jiang Minci was in fifth grade in Wanxian (now Wanzhou, Chongqing). The classroom was on the second floor. The parade passed by downstairs. It was so lively. She ignored the teacher and ran directly to the corridor. After confirming the Japanese surrender, she immediately rushed downstairs and joined the parade. The idea of "being beaten if you fall behind" is deep in her heart. She strengthened the ambition she set when she was young, and she must go to university and study science in the future. After the victory of
, Jiang Minci finally studied for several years. In the third year of junior high, her father was unemployed and her mother sold 7 gold rings, which was only enough for the children to study for half a year. In the last semester, the physics teacher supported her. In order to live up to her teacher, reading has become her indestructible belief, and she even escaped marriage for this reason. In the year of
high school entrance examination, her grades were enough to enter the Guangya Middle School, which is one of the best in the province. It was founded by Zhang Zhidong in 1888 and is well-known throughout the country. It is a pity that the hope is not fulfilled, and she does not meet the conditions for applying for the grant. She went to other schools without success. As a last resort, she chose a normal secondary school with no tuition.
had regulations at the time that normal graduates could not enter the university. In the third year, Hengyang Railway School enrolled students in Guangzhou. Although it is a vocational school, the content of learning is closer to the "science" in Jiang Min's heart. There are 500 enrollment places, and girls account for only 10%, but the number of applicants exceeds 10,000. In the normal school, Jiang Minci has been studying high school mathematics, physics and other courses by herself. With these accumulations, she squeezed into the admission list. On the day
went to Hengyang to report, under the cover of a teacher, she sneaked out of the normal school. After learning that she was assigned to the line major, she wrote a note to the principal to express her thoughts, and finally transferred to the more preferred mechanical major.
Jiang Minci's graduation photo at the railway school. She is one of only three girls in the mechanical class. Photo courtesy of the interviewee. After working at
, she participated in several advanced studies, but after all, she did not have the opportunity to become a real college student, and she regretted it all her life. As soon as the news of the resumption of the college entrance examination came out in 1977, she did not sleep for two or three nights. She is not qualified to apply for the exam, so she pinned her hopes on her children. There was a child who didn't pass the entrance examination in the first year. She said: "Give you 5 years. As long as you are still studying, I will always support you." Later, her 4 children all went to college.
In the last few days, after three weeks of interruption, Jiang Minci finally released a new video at station B, telling the story of his entrance to the railway school. She also announced that the story after work will be more exciting, and many fans leave messages looking forward to it. The experiences she wanted to record were unconsciously breaking the inequality in her subconscious.
Later, Jiang Minci worked in the machinery department of the Second Railway Bureau and was the only lesbian in the department. The unit needs to send people to the Guizhou construction site to test the rhinestones, and the director is very embarrassed: this is a dirty and tiring manual work, and it is necessary to learn the local minority policies in advance, and the safety risks are great, evenThere are rumors that when walking at night, you will encounter jackals. Jiang Minci, who was not well-qualified, took the initiative to invite Ying, and felt it was a good opportunity for practice. The
construction site has never been to a lesbian. She did not meet her living conditions. The workers could only give her a small room between the two workshops. The shower has to wait until most workers are working, put up a "no entry" sign, and make a quick decision. The biggest difficulty is that the rhinestones are very heavy, weighing 16 kilograms, and I have to add water. It is really hard to drill upwards.
But she persevered for 3 months and successfully completed the task. After returning, the director gave the 1.52 meter lesbian the nickname "little tiger". More than 30 years after
, Jiang Minci participated in the construction of many railways: Baocheng Railway (Baoji-Chengdu), Xiangqian Railway (Zhuzhou-Guiding), Chengkun Railway (Chengdu-Kunming), Sichuan-Guiyang Railway (Chongqing-Guiyang) ), Ying-Xia Railway (Yingtan-Xiamen)...
old and not old
"little tiger" is now old. If
pauses her video and carefully observes the details of the screen, you may notice several clues: Compared with the right half, the left half of her neck is more sunken, and there is a stitched scar; on the desk there are several A medicine bottle is thyroxine and antihypertensive drugs; under the feet of the human acupoint model, there are often several pairs of sunglasses...
Her thyroid has undergone two operations-the tumor was removed more than 20 years ago, and the cancer was treated 5 years ago. . In her 70s, she underwent cataract surgery on her left eye. It didn't take long for her to be afraid of light and tears. She always had to prepare sunglasses and a handkerchief. Now her condition has relapsed and she looks a little hazy when looking at things. Like most elderly people, she also has high blood pressure. She has a sphygmomanometer placed at the bedside all the year round. In the past two years, her physical examination has also found heart problems.
"I'm still old after all, it won't work if I don't admit it." Jiang Minci would be so emotional. But this does not prevent her from being "smart and immortal" at station b. Before, she always felt that the moment she retired, she would end the curtain. Now that the video is released, some people are moved, or think it is educational, as if they have had some effect on society.
Most of the time, she will write an outline in advance, or even make a draft. At dinner, the family gathered to discuss and help her add details. When talking about "marriage escape", the younger son reminded her: "At that time, you carried a burlap pocket and hit bare feet, and talk about this too." The video posted on Children's Day mentioned that a dollar was stolen while fleeing in Hong Kong. The original saying was, "I'm very sad." The younger son said, "Didn't you say that you were sitting on the ground and crying?"
She often went to Doudou's room to talk about her thoughts on editing. When doing subtitles, just move a stool over and check them all. Jiang Minci's goal is to stop asking Doudou for help in the future, and complete it independently from start to finish.
curses and opportunities always come with popularity. Some people say that she sells personal design, the video quality is average, but there are millions of broadcasts, this is "bad money drives out good money." For a while, a lot of satirical videos appeared at station B, and the titles were all in the same format: I am XX years old, can I come to station B to be the host of the up? Some people questioned the authenticity of the content, believing that Doudou is using her to earn profits, and "The Code of Wealth" and "Sun Tzu's Bad Money" once became hot reviews. There are others who say with certainty that this is by no means her personal will. The basis is: Grandma's speech is unstable. Why should she insist on making videos? On the other side of
, the local "Old Man" made a report, and the TV station's senior program also invited her to Beijing to participate in the recording. The staff at station B called and said that her video had won a prize in the "Rising Star Project" and a tablet computer would be mailed as encouragement. Later, an invitation was sent to broadcast her birthday video during the preheating session of the 11th anniversary speech.
They are like pebbles thrown into the surface of the water, making her real life ripples, and quickly returning to calm.
She has no gain or loss in traffic. The amount of video played was not as high as the first issue, and it was very light; when the desk was full, put away the "silver TV" symbolizing popularity, and there was no need to make a special place. She didn't build a fan group, and she rarely responded to comments. If you support it, thank you in the video; if you say bad things, don't care about it; if you are curious, write it down silently, and try to satisfy it in the following video.
MCN agencies and advertisers came over, but she ignored her, still being the ordinary old man before. Happiness and troubles are similar to those of most people of the same age: the great-granddaughter weighed more than seven catties when she was born, and she was extremely happy; the Dragon Boat Festival wrapped zongzi, sonThe female and my friends each have to bring a few, and the refrigerator can’t put it down; occasionally I wonder if the health care products I bought have the effect of publicity...
life is still the same as before. Get up at 6 o'clock, cook breakfast at 7 o'clock, go out to practice Tai Chi at 8 o'clock, after the end, everyone goes to the vegetable market in groups to buy. Clothes still need to be changed, cross stitch still needs to be done, and good-looking TV shows still need to be pursued.
Every morning, Jiang Minci exercises with his "boxers". Photo by Chen Yihan.
The youngest partner who plays Tai Chi together is 70 years old. No one knew that she played at station B. As soon as the article from the "Old Man" came out, everyone saw: "Wow! Why are you on it?" They didn't understand what station B was. After some surprise, they still looked like sisters. Similarly, discuss children and vegetable prices with Jiang Minci. The music of
Tai Chi is coming to an end. Everyone continues the last move, while Jiang Minci is playing with new technology. There is no need to say hello. The "boxers" already have a tacit understanding. She walked out of the line slowly, took out the tablet computer sent from station B from the grocery shopping cart, set it up on the small table, found the cached Baduanjin video, and then turned on the Bluetooth speaker that was smaller than a slap. The bluetooth connection of
succeeded, and she slowly returned to the partners.
(At the request of the interviewee, Doudou is a pseudonym in the text)
