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Amid a quiet night’s atmosphere, on the other side of the bridge in Guilin City, Guangxi Province, China, is filled with noisy talk by a group of streamers who do live streaming outside at night. It looks like they take out a studio with them because they’re all carrying phones, camera stands, microphones, and lights in full swing. They compete for the top audience on social media called ‘Douyin,’ or Chinese version of TikTok, to earn income called ‘Money Donate,’ from viewers who come to watch live.
27-year-old Qiao Ya, one of the live streamers, does live streaming outside at night for a living. She loves this career because she thinks live streaming is an easy job just like getting to know new friends. Her only income comes from the donated money she earns on Live. Usually, she gets a maximum donation of 600 yuan (about 3,000 baht), but in a very bad period, she will get the donated money as low as 10 yuan (about 50 baht). Working hours start from 9pm to 3am, especially during winter, she has to sit and do the live streaming at midnight amid temperatures dropping to 0 degrees Celsius.
The reason why she decided to do live streaming outside at night is because she hopes that the viewers will be kind to her and not ask for many things since livestreaming outside requires a lot of patience and it is quite difficult for the streamer. While streamers who do the live streaming at home have to have a pretty face and dress well to attract viewers.
Streamers who do live streaming on Douyin platform must sign a contract with ‘Live Streaming Agency’ Douyin charges 50% of the donated money that streamers receive, while also charging 10% for equipment rental and live management on the platform. Thus, streamers like Qiao Ya will only get 40% of her total donated money
Zhang Xiao Xiao, 36-year-old eyebrow tattoo artist, who turned to do live streaming for additional income since she was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. She said that sometimes people who walk past on the bridge act unfriendly, some with anger, insult, or even asking: Why don’t you do a normal job? In addition, sometimes streamers have to confront drunk people, people who threaten or have to block inappropriate viewers’ messages. These contracted streamers will be escorted by the bodyguards sent by the agency.
Despite the risks, whether it’s weather or people, streamers are always coming back to do live streaming when there are still viewers who donate a lot of money to their favorite streamers.
