Trends come and go as time flies. You may know what’s trendy now, but what about the fashionable costumes or makeup of the ancient times? You may get some clues from the videos produced by Zhu Ruoxuan, who was named one of the top 100 content creators in January by Bilibili, a leading video-sharing platform in China.

随着时间的推移，潮流也在变化。你也许知道现在的潮流趋势，但是曾经的时装和潮流妆容是什么呢？也许你能从朱若萱的视频中找到线索。国内大型视频分享平台哔哩哔哩（B站），一月将朱若萱评为百大内容创作者。
 

Born in 1998, Zhu began sharing her life through videos on Bilibili in 2019 under the moniker (名字) “Duoduo Hualin”, initially focusing on videos that show popular makeup from the ancient China to modern time. It wasn’t until 2021 that she gained widespread attention thanks to a video depicting the evolution of the ordinary Chinese woman’s appearance and mindset from the 1920s to the 2020s.

朱若萱生于1998年，从2019年开始以“朵朵花林”为名在B站分享她的生活视频，最初视频聚焦于展现中国从古至今女性的妆容。直到2021年，她发布的描绘中国女性从1920年代到2020年代外表和心态变迁的视频走红，朱若萱因此获得了大量关注。
 

In the video, she also imitated (模仿) the facial expressions of women from different time periods, capturing their uncertainty in the 1920s, their helplessness during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), and their confidence as female workers in the 1950s after the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

在视频中，她模仿了不同历史时期女性的面部表情，捕捉了她们在1920年代的不安；她们在抗日战争时的无助，以及她们在中华人民共和国成立之后作为女性工作者的自信。
 

Despite a lack of formal acting training, Zhu studied women in old photos and movies to imitate their expressions, striving for accuracy. Over time, Zhu’s videos shifted to an even greater focus on women, exploring other changes in women’s images from the past to the present.

虽然没有正规的表演训练，朱若萱就从老照片和老电影中学习女性的表情，力争准确还原。时间一长，她的视频更加聚焦于女性，探索女性从过去到现在的形象。
 

Since last year, Zhu has started paying more attention to current social phenomena and the issues women face. “I think it’s a necessary growth both for myself and my creation,” she said.

自从去年，朱若萱开始更加关注当前女性的社会现象和所面临的议题。她说：“我认为这对我自身和创作的成长都有必要。”
 

One of Zhu’s productions from last year highlights the transformation of Chinese women’s hairstyles. At the end of the video, she depicted a character with pink hair, inspired by Zheng Linghua, a 23-year-old who faced cyberbullying due to her hairstyle and tragically (悲惨地) ended her life while battling depression (抑郁症) in January 2023.

去年，朱若萱的创作突出中国女性发型的变迁。在视频结尾，她塑造了一个粉色头发的角色。这个角色受到了郑灵华的启发。郑灵华因为她的发色而遭受网络暴力，并于2023年1月因抑郁症悲惨地结束了自己的生命，时年23岁。
 

“I want everyone to see that online violence can be fatal,” Zhu said.

朱若萱称：“我希望每个人都能看到，网络暴力足以致命。”
 

Zhu’s recent videos demonstrate a more compassionate (有同情心的) approach toward women in historical periods. For instance, she released an anti-war video on Dec 13, the annual National Memorial Day for Victims of the Nanjing Massacre (大屠杀), portraying (描绘) the transformation of an ordinary Chinese woman before and after the massacre. This video, which took two months to create, drew inspiration from Iris Chang’s book The Rape of Nanking (《南京大屠杀》), in which women cut their hair short to disguise themselves as men during the war.

最近的视频中，朱若萱展现了对特殊历史时期女性遭遇的同情。比如，在12月13日南京大屠杀死难者国家公祭日之际，她发布了一则反战视频，阐述了一位普通中国女性在大屠杀前后的转变。这条视频受到张纯如的著作《南京大屠杀》的启发，耗时两个月创作完成。书中描述到为了躲避日军暴行，女性不得不剪短发，扮成男性。

As a native of Nanjing, Zhu feels a deep connection to the subject matter, and as a woman, she naturally gravitates (受吸引) toward topics related to women. “I want to express my observations and thoughts through my videos,” she said.

作为南京本地人，朱若萱对这一主题深有感触。以及作为女性，她自然而然地受到与女性相关主题的吸引。她说：“我想通过视频表达我的观察和想法。”

以上文章内容选自《21世纪英文报》高三834期