Young woman promotes tourism in Xinjiang through short videos featuring martial arts

Qi Yaru, a young woman from northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has shot a series of short videos featuring herself performing martial arts with local scenic spots in the background. The videos have helped to present the beautiful scenery of Xinjiang to more people and have attracted tens of thousands of followers for Qi.

Qi Yaru performs martial arts at the launching ceremony for an ice and snow tourism festival held at a ski resort in the Hui Autonomous Prefecture of Changji, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Chinanews.com/Sun Tingwen)

At the launching ceremony for an ice and snow tourism festival held recently at a local ski resort in the Hui Autonomous Prefecture of Changji, Xinjiang, the 24-year-old put on a show dressed up as a chivalrous woman while demonstrating a series martial arts moves.

Having released her first video on the short-video sharing platform Douyin this March, the young woman said that her original intention for shooting the videos was to promote Xinjiang, which is a region endowed with rich cultural and tourism resources.

Born in Shawan city of Tacheng Prefecture, Xinjiang, Qi has been a martial arts lover since childhood. However, it was not until about three years ago when she started to learn martial arts. Qi has stuck to her routine of practicing martial arts for at least two hours each day ever since. After a video she released on Douyin that showed her practicing martial arts went viral, Qi started to share more and more similar videos on the platform as well as other videos featuring local food and natural scenery.

Qi said she will travel across Xinjiang to promote the region’s scenic spots and ice and snow tourism so that more people will want to come to Xinjiang to experience its charm.