Enjoying a brush with social media fame

TikTok videos help mural artist carve out a lucrative niche with her own unique style, Zhou Jin reports.

With a spatula, some brushes and buckets of lime plaster-like paint, a thin girl uses her magic to embellish white walls with vibrant and colorful murals, giving them infinite charm. With the help of video sharing platform TikTok, she is able to share her painting process, and the finished artworks, with the public.

Zhang Lijia, 25, is the artist and vlogger that has mesmerized over 6 million followers on TikTok. Most of her works are murals for home and office decoration depicting classic chinoiserie, such as landscapes with splendid mountains and rivers, vivid lotuses, deer and peacocks. Sometimes, she paints portraits and cartoons commissioned by her clients.

"Murals convey good messages. For example, the deer represents good luck and longevity, and the peacock implies wealth and auspiciousness," Zhang says, adding that the murals embody blessings and wishes for a better life, expressing a hope that more people will see the beauty of the paintings and welcome their wishes of good fortune into their own homes.