By Feng Qirong

While studying in Malaysia, Nantong boy Zhang Youwen did a meaningful thing —— to spread the stories of Nanyang patriotic overseas Chinese by short videos. In the more than half a year, he completed the making of short videos of 80 patriotic overseas Chinese in total. After uploaded online, they were liked by local Chinese. A netizen said that he ‘was full of tears watching them’.

Different from his peers who like to shop, Zhang Youwen has loved to go to museums and listen to historical stories since he was a child. Among the many museums Zhang Youwen visited, Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Museum impressed him most. ‘In the museum, I got to know a lot of stories of patriotic overseas Chinese. I found out that most of the patriotic overseas Chinese are from British Malaya (the historical address of Malaysia and Singapore). Among them, one Nanyang overseas Chinese, Liang Lingguang, who is endowed with civil and martial virtues, has a tight bond with my hometown Rugao.’ Zhang Youwen said.

In 2021, after graduated from Wuhan University of Technology, Zhang Youwen was admitted to art and design major of UCSI University in Malaysia for a master course.

After arriving at Malaysia, Zhang Youwen has spent every weekend going to various types of memorial venues in Malaysia. At each place, he took photos of relevant historical records carefully. The story contexts and figures of close to one hundred Nanyang patriotic overseas Chinese have become clearer in his mind. An idea was born in his mind: why not use his talent, to spread the glorious stories of Nanyang patriotic overseas Chinese by short videos?

To improve the attractiveness of the videos, he downloaded and watched a lot of black and white old films and documentaries, selected segments which match the stories of Nanyang patriotic overseas Chinese to process and edit, and added relevant subtitles and music.

Up to now, Zhang Youwen has uploaded the touching stories of 80 patriotic overseas Chinese by short videos on several new media platforms such as Tik Tok, Jinri Toutiao, and Xigua Video.

Recently, he started a new short video making plan —— Chinese national heroes 3D animation series. On 15th November, he uploaded the first work of the series online. ‘In the future, I will consider to reproduce the stories of Nanyang patriotic overseas Chinese by 3D animation, to attract more 1990s and 2000s young people with the new and straight forward way.’