Li Ziqi impresses millions with her videos,

where she makes seemingly everything from scratch

with her own two hands,

from dying a dress with fresh grape juice

to fashioning traditional lipstick from roses in her garden

to foraging on horseback

in order to prepare

one exquisite meal

after another.

She has some 50 million fans in China

and another 8 million overseas,

but she remains a mystery to many of them.

In her videos,

she doesn't speak,

and she rarely gives interviews.

But now,

she's ready to open up to us.

To find Li,

we had to travel to rural Sichuan Province in southwestern China,

where she grew up.

Li grew up with her grandparents here.

She says she came to live with them

after her stepmother mistreated her.

But they were poor,

so when she turned 14, Li went to work in the city.

In 2012, she decided to return to the countryside

to take care of her grandmother.

Four years later, she started filming her life there.

The dishes she prepares range from a single condiment

to elaborate multi-course meals.

But whatever she makes,

she leaves no stone unturned,

going as far as raising baby ducklings

just to make a sauce out of salted duck eggs.

Some joke that she's brought

a whole new meaning to the phrase “from scratch.”

Some of her other recipes are wholly original.

In one video, she uses magnolia flowers to make pastries

and even deep-fries the flowers themselves.

Apart from food,

she's also known for her videos demonstrating traditional crafts,

like building this bamboo furniture set,

which she says was inspired by

one of her grandfather's old benches.

Li's stylized depictions of rural life

stand out in China's ultra competitive field of online videos.

The market has become lucrative,

estimated to be worth $6.5 billion.

Li's pensive and ethereal take

has struck a chord with young people

hustling in China's big cities.

But Li is not without controversy.

Some viewers have been skeptical of her claim

that she started as a one-woman band.

Two years ago,

Li posted a behind-the-scenes video to refute those claims.

Li says she now works with one videographer

and one assistant,

but she's still the one calling the shots.

We weren't able to verify these claims

because we were not allowed to observe Li filming.

But today,

three years after she first picked up the camera,

Li is one of China's most successful online video makers.