At 22, a queen of the small screen

Xia Keke, who has more than 6 million fans online, amassed earnings of more than 5 million yuan last year. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Former flight attendant Xia Keke had to go against her parents' wishes to pursue her dream, but now they, too, watch her online.

Sitting at a computer, turning on the camera and clicking on the microphone, 22-year-old Xia Keke smiles, chats, sings and sometimes stands up and dances inside a pink room filled with dolls.

Flowers, stickers and other virtual gifts constantly appear on her computer screen. Twice a day, about two to three hours at a time, she communicates with her fans this way.

"The key to being a host is to innovate, otherwise fans will leave you. And the most difficult time is when you reach a bottleneck and you don't know how to improve yourself," says Xia, a leading personality on the live broadcasting platform YY.com.

Xia joined YY.com in June 2014. Her beautiful V-shaped face, sexy figure and funny, bold and straightforward personality helped attract followers, who now number more than 6 million, and helped her amass earnings last year of more than 5 million yuan ($767,000; 674,000 euros).

Born into a conventional, white-collar family in Jinan, Shandong province - her mother is a judge and her father an engineer - Xia says she has been learning singing and dancing since childhood.

"But when I told my parents I wanted to be a film star when I was in middle school, they refused and wanted me to do some ordinary job," she says.

After high school, she became a flight attendant, but her hobby of playing online games made her want to do live broadcasts of such games. Her funny personality enabled her to become an entertainment host instead.

She hit it just right. Online streaming has a very low entry threshold - as long you have a computer, you can register with a website and start broadcasting - and the online streaming industry is growing fast.