A walking encyclopedia of natural history

Zhang Chenliang focuses a camera to shoot a photo of the Monotropa uniflora Linn. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Some people become online celebrities due to good looks, others by good luck. But one young man has gained huge popularity on the internet because of his keen interest in natural history.

And his name is Zhang Chenliang.

Widely known as the "Man of Natural History", or Bowu Jun in Chinese, the online star now boasts 6 million followers on Sina Weibo, one of the most influential social media platforms in China.

Every day, thousands of questions, ranging from entomology, zoology to botany and geography, are submitted to him.

In the face of this "question attack", Zhang seems to accept the status quo and handles them in his own way.

His fans all know that he has set a series of rules to answering questions. Therefore, if you are not a smart observer, your question may become like a pebble dropped into the sea and never solved, at least from the "walking encyclopedia".

Zhang Chenliang  [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

What makes him the "Man of Natural History"

Born in Beijing, the 29-year-old has fostered a deep love of nature since he was a child.

"When I was a child, I was fond of insects. I do not remember how many insects I brought up. As long as I've seen them, I've had a curiosity to know more about these creatures. The magic of nature is beyond description," Zhang recalled.

"In my childhood, a fish tank and glass bottles all were transformed into an ecological zone to bring up different kinds of insects. To me, it was fantastic to see their growth. Therefore, I always hold more important firsthand experience than stereotypical book teaching," he said.

These childhood memories, to some degree, determined Zhang Chenliang's life. In 2011, he pursued a master's degree in agricultural entomology and pest control at China Agricultural University and made a more detailed study on natural history.

During the academic study period, Zhang was selected by Natural History, a Chinese version of National Geography, as an intern.

His first assignment was to operate the social media Weibo. At the beginning, he just followed traditional form and issued knowledge-oriented posts. Sometimes he would use humorous online language to appeal to netizens, but that wasn't working well in online promotion.

Later, Zhang explored a unique way to run the Weibo account by answering questions from netizens. Crafty as a question might be, Zhang always gave a satisfactory answer. Little by little, more and more people asked him for help and his reputation rose accordingly.

Zhang's overnight sensation also stirred up doubts about him. In Zhihu, the Chinese version of Quora, someone said the success of "Bowu Jun" was due to a whole team to support him.

"Actually, I still operate the official Weibo account. And all the questions are answered by myself, alone. I tried to find others to share some of the burden but I am still alone at the current stage. I hope some successors will show up one day."

In addition to the question-answer method, Zhang is considering releasing several video programs or doing a live broadcast to introduce more knowledge to people.

"Video can help promote knowledge in a more direct way. For instance, as spring comes into our lives, many people cannot distinguish the differences between peach flowers and cherry blossoms. Through videos, I can teach people how to spot the difference, and this is highly effective to do," Zhang said.