From the People's Daily app.

And this is Story in the Story. 

A recent report found that China's short video market experienced explosive growth of by almost 750 percent year on year, hitting nearly 7 billion dollars in 2018. 

Total short video users in China stood at 648 million last year, accounting for almost 80 percent of the country's overall online population.

According to the report, the average time spent on the internet increased 63 minutes from 2017 to 5.7 hours a day by mobile phone users, who spent 11 percent of their time online watching short videos, next only to instant messaging.  

Entertainment and social interaction are the main functions of short videos, with quality content driving market development, said Zhou Jie from China Netcasting Services Association. 

Today's Story in the Story looks at how the popularity of micro-videos has created opportunities for those who require aid from the general public.  

Left: Six-year-old Liu Limei cuts carrot into the shape of a swallow. Right: The food carving works made by Liu. (Photo: Kuaishou)

While most 6-year-olds enjoy meals prepared by their parents, Liu Limei has already become a social media sensation at that age, thanks to videos showcasing her impressive skills in cutting food with a Chinese cleaver. 

Highly skilled with a blade, Limei is not just proficient in cutting fruit and vegetables into perfect cubes or slices. In the videos posted online since February, she can even make artistic food carvings. 

Limei uses a cleaver like a magic wand, turning ordinary fruit and vegetables into beautiful presentations. 

To date, more than 40 of her works of edible art have been shown on Kuaishou, a popular short-video sharing platform, where she has gained almost 400,000 followers online. 

Limei used to lead a normal family life in Leiyang, Central China's Hunan Province. 

Her father Liu Guocheng and mother had run two restaurants in the town. She also has a younger brother named Liu Gongzheng. 

Things changed since 2017 when serious illness hit the family. Limei’s younger brother was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 1 that year.  And then on New Year's Day in 2018, he was diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukemia. 

Treating her brother caused the family's savings to run out as new debts piled up. 

In the face of medical expenses, their mother left the family, and gradually cut off contact with them. 

The situation grew worse the following year when Limei was diagnosed with a kidney disorder that affects blood vessels. 

She was forced to drop out of kindergarten. And even though they sold their home, the family was still $30,000 dollars in debt. 

Sensing the problematic situation, Limei, at the age of 5, began helping her father take care of her brother in the ward.

(Screenshot from China Daily)

To comfort her only remaining parent, she often said, "Dad, don't be upset. We will listen to you and work hard to pay back the debt when we grow up." 

During the past two years, the broken family has lived in a temporary dwelling found through Liu's aunt. 

To take some of the burdens off of her father, Limei started helping out with household chores when she was only 4 years old. 

The father also strived to find a way out of the family's difficult situation as he took his children to the hospital and farmed. 

Following the advice of a grocery clerk, the father started to post short videos about his two sick children on Kuaishou. 

At first, his videos did not attract much attention. However, at the beginning of 2019, the father stumbled on his daughter's cooking skills. 

Limei copied her father and cubed the carrot. The little girl soon could chop, dice, mince and carve food like a pro. 

Since then, Liu Guocheng has begun to share his daughter's food-cutting videos, which have taken off in popularity. 

Some expressed a lot of sympathy for the girl and her family. One comment said, "When some kids have just learned how to eat by themselves, other kids have already learned how to cook for the family." 

Clothes, shoes, toys, and snacks were sent to Liu's home. Two large-scale charitable donations have been held online to help with the children's treatment, and more than $120,000 dollars has been raised. 

Limei will also return to kindergarten. 

She said, "When I have enough money, I will change another house for my little brother, one where there are no rats." 

(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Lance Crayon, Brian Lowe and Chelle Wenqian Zeng. Music by: bensound.com. Text from Global Times and China Daily.)