Woman, 80, gains fame with apricots

An 80-year-old woman from Taipingbu village in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, has become an internet celebrity by helping her grandson livestream advertising for home-grown apricots.

"Dear friends, please look at the apricots grown in our town," Cui Shuxia says in the broadcast as she stands before a mobile phone camera.

"They are very delicious and refreshing. They taste sweet but are tinged with a little bit sour flavor. They can be stored for quite a few days. And we can transport them to you through express companies no matter where you live.

"Let me try one for you, although I've lost my teeth."

Cui then takes a bite of an apricot. "See? It's easy to bite. Very delicious!"

Cui's humor has attracted a large audience — and customers — according to Wang Erlou, the grandson. The number of subscribers to the online apricot shop has increased from 800 to 16,000. More than 8,000 boxes of apricots worth 250,000 yuan ($35,300) have been sold since his grandma became the star of the show at the end of May.

Netizens left comments under Cui's livestreaming: "Grandma Cui is so cute!" "Applause to this brilliant grandma, who knows how to sell goods via livestreaming!" "Let's support Grandma Cui's business by buying her apricots!"

Cui's grandson had been doing the livestreaming, but when she took over, sales skyrocketed.

"Once an online buyer asked my grandson when the apricots in Taipingbu could be dated back to. My grandson didn't know the answer and turned to me for help," Cui said.

The answer: At least 300 years.

She is a big fan of the apricots herself but didn't expect to get so much attention and affection from the customers.

"I married a man in this town decades ago just because I want to eat apricots often," she said.

Now as the apricot season winds down, Cui has stopped livestreaming.

"Thank you all for liking me and our apricots," she said in her latest update on Tuesday. "We'll see you next year!"

[Video by Zhang Gang/For chinadaily.com.cn]