The "homeless man" with 4.4 million fans on the Internet has become the "Northeast Ranger" in the hearts of netizens

A while ago, the issue of nuclear wastewater discharge was gaining popularity. Many people were shrouded in a sense of crisis about the mutation of marine life and the end of the world. Suddenly, many survival bloggers emerged to teach you how to make fire and grow corn. The B-station up master Sha Xin Cheng Fen is also a representative figure in this regard. How did he become popular, and what kind of story is behind his wandering?

Before seeing "Sha Xin Cheng Fen", many people may not know that there are "skills" to wandering. For example, when rummaging through a trash can, it is best to prepare an iron hook, which is not only convenient for rummaging through the bottom, but also not easy to hurt your hands; for example, when looking for a place to live, do not go to a dangerous building with structural problems, and do not live by the water or on the rooftop. "Sha Xin Cheng Fen" compiled these wandering experiences into 36 strategies in words and shared them with netizens on Zhihu who are curious about "wandering". On platforms such as Bilibili and Douyin, "Sha Xin Cheng Fen" uses videos to teach "wandering precautions" more intuitively, with each video having a theme, such as "How to ensure the safety of homeless people living outside."

"Sha Xin Cheng Fen" is active on almost every content platform. He tells his own story, popularizes various "rules of wandering survival", and takes the initiative to launch various survival challenges including "0 Yuan City Survival" and "Doomsday Wasteland Recipes". He also responds to rumors about speculation and curiosity on the Internet. As of now, "Sha Xin Cheng Fen" has 1.64 million fans on Bilibili, 2 million fans on Douyin, 452,000 fans on Zhihu, 185,000 fans on Weibo, and 125,000 fans on Xiaohongshu . He has "fully developed" on the Internet with his wandering experience. Why does this homeless man have so many fans? How did he become a "life mentor" in the hearts of millions of people? Through his hundreds of videos and articles, we try to find the answer.

1. From wandering in the city to doomsday recipes, the survival maniac has 4.4 million fans on the Internet

You can really learn survival knowledge by watching the video of "Killing Heart Burning".

He has taken care of every aspect of homeless people's food, clothing, housing and transportation. For example, in terms of sleeping places, "Sha Xin Cheng Fen" has discussed bridge holes, public toilets, bank ATM huts, park benches, unfinished buildings, etc.; for example, in terms of food, various canned foods, individual rations and other hunger-filled foods are also frequent guests.

On July 30 this year, he started a series of challenges - "Challenge 15-day survival in a 0-yuan city", which is currently one of the most popular contents on the account, with a cumulative playback volume of more than 14.4 million times on Bilibili.

The first episode of the popular video in this series has been played 6.455 million times. In the video, "Sha Xin Cheng Fen" shows how he found an abandoned house as a shelter, how he searched through trash cans for good things, and how he made fire to eat and survive.

Unlike the initial struggle to make a living, "Sha Xin Cheng Fen" did not shoot this series of challenges because he had no money. "Now I have an income, enough for myself, and a place to live, just to show my survival skills." In the comment area, some people said that this series is "a must-see for college students, this is really a very useful experience", and some people are very enthusiastic to list more survival tips, such as how to beat others in the fierce competition of picking up waste, how to ensure the daily intake of nutrients required by the human body when there is no money, etc.

According to Xinbang's B station data tool Xinzhan, the B station account of "Shaxinchengfen" gained more than 300,000 followers in a week because of the 0 yuan city challenge series.

After this series ended, he immediately started a new survival challenge, which increased the difficulty - living in the city with a debt of 5,000 yuan.

The rules of the challenge are that you have nothing, but you still owe 5,000 yuan, and starting from the fifth day you have to pay 30 yuan in interest every day. "Sha Xin Cheng Burning" has to survive in the city. If you cannot pay the interest, the challenge will fail.

The first video in the series takes everyone to search for treasures in trash cans, where they find many bottles and bottle caps, search for an abandoned house to live in, and ask the owner of a street restaurant for leftovers to fill their stomachs. Finally, they sleep wrapped in a sack.

Although this video is not as popular as the 0 Yuan Challenge series, it has been played nearly 1.3 million times on Bilibili. In his plan, he can make more money by selling 30 Yuan from trash cans every day and then reselling the recycled paper shells with the 30 Yuan.

However, after 10 days, the challenge failed. "Sha Xin Cheng Fen" wrote an article explaining that it was because the means of making money were too single, there was no other way to make money except for scraps, shooting videos consumed a lot of energy, etc., and various wrong predictions.

He wrote in his review: "I will definitely challenge this series again in the future, but I have to think carefully about how to make money. Many details of this challenge were not handled well, and there is still a lot of room for improvement.

"Sha Xin Cheng Fen", who has no challenges for the time being, continues to update his "Doomsday Wasteland Recipe".

This is a video column that started in June this year. The background setting is how to survive in the apocalypse of zombies, such as what food to eat, how to loot supplies, how to resist zombies, etc.

The most popular theme is "Beginner's Recipe for the Post-apocalyptic Wasteland: Campfire Roasted Chicken", which teaches everyone the skills of roasting chicken over an open flame. It has been played more than 2.375 million times on Bilibili.

2. He is not just a tramp, he is the "Northeast Ranger" in many people's hearts

The "killing heart" who is now constantly taking on survival challenges was once forced to wander.

He is from Northeast China, and his account address is located in Songyuan City, Jilin Province. His strong Northeastern accent can be heard in the video.

There are many rumors on the Internet about why he wandered. Some say he made enemies because of his heroic act of saving a beautiful girl, while others say he was forced to wander because of his bravery. As a "living person on the Internet" who is often online, "Sha Xin Cheng Fen" took the initiative to share the reason for his wandering amidst all the speculation.

He said that he used to be able to make money, but he didn't reveal what he did. At his best, he could earn more than 300,000 yuan a month and had his own house.

However, because a buddy he had known for many years was in urgent need of money, "Sha Xin Cheng Fen" sold his house to help him, and ended up becoming homeless. In response to others' misunderstanding, he replied in the forum that "We are not ordinary friends. We have known each other for many years and he has helped me a lot. I can't just ignore him."

Then came the story of "It's not easy to make money". He couldn't earn much money, had no habit of saving money, and didn't borrow money from others. In addition, he liked the sense of freedom of wandering, so he started a wandering life.

At first, he slept in Internet cafes, watched others play games, ate wontons left over by others, and had no money to mend his torn trousers. Then, with only a few dozen yuan left, he began to search through trash cans for "treasures", such as beer, blankets, cans, and even used mobile phones and watches. He could also make some money by picking up bottles.

He was not always wandering around. During this period, he worked as a network administrator in an Internet cafe, a security guard in a bath center, set up a fortune-telling stall on the streets of Guangdong, and worked as an animal keeper.

"Sha Xin Cheng Fen" shares his stories and experiences on Zhihu. He participates in discussions on social hot topics, organizes his own wandering experiences into wandering survival notes, and is also keen on answering many questions related to animals, such as how to raise a panda, how to touch a tiger, etc.

Among them, the reply "how many times did you touch the bear?" made him famous. It started when he was answering a question about an animal and shared his experience with a bear. He mentioned that he touched the bear "a few times" to test whether the 200-pound bear would bite people. This became a famous meme.

Picture from the Internet

"Killing Heart Burning"'s response to the popularity of the meme

From Zhihu

Since 2019, "Sha Xin Cheng Fen" has answered more than 3,200 questions on Zhihu, with more than 450,000 fans. He wrote his personal story into a column called "The First Half of a Breeder's Life", which is priced at 19.9 yuan and has been rated 9.9 by more than 5,000 people.

On August 6, 2022, "Shaxinchengfen" uploaded a video on Bilibili, showing the abandoned residential building he had just found and making coffee with the coffee powder he picked up - he started wandering again.

The comment section was puzzled, and many asked "Why did Brother Sha go out to wander again?" Many viewers speculated that he was accumulating material for his account. "Sha Xin Cheng Fen" did not respond immediately, but began to update his wandering videos every day, recording every day of his wandering.

Six days later, he had his first hit video about homelessness, with the theme "How can homeless people ensure their life safety in the wilderness?", which was viewed over 2.83 million times on Bilibili.

More and more people are interested in the experience of "Murderous Heart". Some netizens revealed that he wandered again because he was brave and righteous. He saved a girl who encountered hooligans at a barbecue stall. However, because he had to pay a large sum of money for the beating, he even sold the computer he used to post on Zhihu and started wandering again.

The description of this experience by "Sha Xin Cheng Fen" himself is "mutual fighting", which is the inducement for him to wander again, but not the root cause, and it cannot be called a heroic act. However, no matter what the true version of "hero saving beauty" is, these personal stories full of righteousness still make him a "knight ranger" in the hearts of netizens.

3. When a wanderer becomes an online “life mentor”

There is a popular question on Zhihu: "Why is Sha Xin Cheng Fen, who looks like a small-time gangster with no achievements, liked by people?" It has been viewed more than 5.06 million times and received 492 answers.

In the minds of many netizens, "Sha Xin Cheng Fen" is just an ordinary person like most people. He used to have an ordinary job, common and ordinary hobbies, and he was righteous and reckless. However, he embarked on the road of wandering with a tragic sense of putting himself in a desperate situation and then surviving.

Therefore, the phrase "Life mentor plus: Zhang Xuefeng in good times, Yoshida in bad times, Brother Fan in difficult times, the helmsman in difficult times, Bao Shu in desperate times, and murderous heart in death" was once widely circulated.

Some people also pointed out that the definition that "Sha Xin Cheng Fen" has no achievements is not valid in itself, because he has 4.4 million fans on the entire network, and the paid Zhihu Yanxuan column he wrote before wandering again was very popular. Such a person is already successful and extraordinary.

There are many rumors about how much money "Sha Xin Cheng Fen" can make now. He once published a statement to refute the rumor of "earning a million yuan a year", saying that he rejected all money transfers from fans. Even the "1,888 yuan paid consultation" he set up was just to prevent others from spending money, and he never collected it once.

He said that he has a certain income to support himself. According to the New List editorial department, the main income of "Sha Xin Cheng Fen" comes from traffic sharing on multiple platforms, paid columns and product advertising.

Not long ago, his Douyin account just posted a "doomsday theme" video, teaching everyone how to make pickled cabbage and oxtail soup in the doomsday, and the small yellow car also brought a link to pickled cabbage, 19.9 yuan for 6 bags. At present, there are 15 products in the Douyin showcase of "Sha Xin Cheng Fen", and nearly 10,000 pieces have been sold.

Someone asked him why he didn't go out to work instead of wandering around?

"Sha Xin Cheng Fen" replied: "If you can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in the future, and you are asked to do a job that pays 3,000 yuan a month, most of you will not do it."

Therefore, if he initially wandered out of necessity for a living, now his "killing intention" has given him more initiative, like an attitude. The challenge of wandering is the lifestyle he chooses and one of the important ways for him to earn income.

Netizens also love to watch these wandering creators who have attitudes and stories. They like to see their upward attitude despite experiencing hardships. Just like the "wandering master" Shen Wei who became famous overnight, his disheveled appearance at the moment of his fame could not hide his brilliance in terms of knowledge and insight.

However, Shen Wei is no longer a wanderer. He has packed up himself and taken the initiative to travel around the world in front of the camera to share his views on Chinese studies. After returning to ordinary life, the popularity of being watched has naturally subsided a lot compared to the wandering period. The number of Douyin fans has dropped from 1.4 million at its peak to more than 500,000.

In August 2022, he publicly talked about being asked to borrow money from close people after he became famous. The longest time he borrowed money from one person was 600,000 yuan. After becoming famous, he had little money left, so he tried to start live streaming again, but it did not attract much attention.

Such a story development is also expected. They became popular because their lives are outside the mainstream life narrative. Once they return to mainstream life, they often lose traffic.

The same is true for "Xu Yun Wandering in China". He is not wandering, but riding across mountains, rivers and seas. With his freedom in chasing the world, he has gained 2.38 million fans on Bilibili. However, Xu Yun, who recently returned to ordinary life, was attacked with malicious comments after he officially announced his girlfriend and returned to Daxinganling to buy a house and settle down.

According to the data from the new website, Xu Yun has lost nearly 100,000 fans in the past three months. Many fans are disappointed with him and say that his image has collapsed. Because in many people's minds, he was an ordinary person who worked hard to live like everyone else, with almost nothing but trying to see the vastness of the world, but in fact he is a "winner in life" who chose to start a family and build a career.

There is nothing wrong with these. Wandering can bring traffic, but it has never been the only choice in life. It’s just that the content after transformation may no longer meet the narrative needs of some netizens. However, netizens can always find the next "life mentor."

As for how long "The Story of a Tramp" can be told, "Killing Heart Burning" who is still on the road may have a chance to give an answer.

Author: Truffle

WeChat public account: Newrank (ID: newrankcn)