“How My Uncle Cured My Mental Struggles after I Went Back to My Village for Three Days”

In an 11 minute video that took Bilibili and Weibo by storm, vlogger Yige Caixiang told the story of his uncle’s life. Once a gifted teenager, his uncle ended up disabled as a result of a failed treatment by a rural doctor. He taught himself carpentry to make a living, remained unmarried all his life, and ended up adopting a daughter. We see him in the current day taking care of his mother, while the whole village considers him the go-to person for fixing anything other than phones, computers or cars (because he never owned any). Netizens felt inspired by his “great stamina”, his tenacity and kindness in the face of struggles and difficulties, which reminded them of this most honorable national quality. The main takeaways from the video come in quotes, the first one said by Mao Zedong: “Be determined, don’t fear sacrifice, overcome all difficulties and strive for victory”, which the author of the video found scribbled in his uncle’s notebook. The other quote comes from his uncle and reads, “Who has no regrets? Only when they are dying, people realize that their biggest regret in life is the time spent regretting the past.”