Singing sensation, Ren Yueli, became famous after a video of her singing was posted on the Internet. This 22 year old girl came to Beijing alone 4 years ago from her hometown, Zhuozhou, in Hebei province.
To earn a living and support a poor family, she sang and played guitar at the subway entrance of the Xidan commercial district in Beijing.
In February 2009, a passerby was so moved by her light, delicate voice, that he shot a short video and posted it on Youku.com, the dominant video website in China. Her video suddenly became an Internet smash hit, with click counts coming in at ten thousand a minute. People not only like her singing, but believe that beneath her great natural talent is a heart-wrenching story of struggle, determination and hope.
Nearly 30 million people have viewed the video clips, encouraging her to sing on a stage instead of at a subway station. She has now become known as the “Xidan Girl”, the song she wrote that made her famous is called “Angel’s Wings” and it even won her a spot on the CCTV’s 2011 Spring Festival Gala, which boosted her fame even further.
Today, she has become a national star, an image spokesperson for rural tourism in Beijing, and has her own MTV show, she even published an autobiography and held a book signing ceremony in her hometown .
Just like Xidan Girl, the Internet has also succeeded in growing several other grassroots stars over the past few years, they were also invited to perform at the 2011 Spring Festival Gala on CCTV which has made them famous across the country.
A group of young rural migrant workers in Shenzhen formed a hip-pop performance team, and gave free dance shows at the park in their spare time. According to them, they did it just because they love to dance. Some of their audience began posting videos of their dancing on the Internet, which attracted numerous netizens, and moved people with their passion and optimism for life.
Another example is a band organized by two middle-aged singers in Beijing, their hardlife experiences typically represent a group of people named “Bei Piao”, or Beijing drifters. They played a sad song from a famous singer and posted it on the Internet. It immediately drew people’s attention to this group and then journalists from newspapers and TV stations rushed to cover their story.
The lives of these grassroots stars have changed, which is largely due to the size and speed of the Internet. Now they have more chances to perform, and a chance to earn more money.
But fame also brings controversy. Will people still like them as they become more commercialized as pop idols? If not, would they like to return to the normal peaceful life they had previously? Their future is yet to be determined.