WeChat Users, welcome to Shengliver Studio on WeChat MP.

FAQ

1 What is this little space on WeChat MP?

It is basically a collection of real Chinese teen stories narrated in English, sprinkled with Shengliver’s musings and reflections. The teen stories cover a spectrum of adolescent topics, touching on school, family, relationship, stress and growth, among others. The creator hopes to provide his readers with inspiring stories about Chinese teenagers presented in good English.

2 Why does it exist?

This little space, which debuted in September 2020, exists here to cater to small screen readers on WeChat, a popular Chinese social networking app. WeChat MP (Media Platform) is an innovative multimedia blogging service, integrating text, images, audio and video, and apps. This compilation of stories on WeChat MP is part of the Shengliver Studio family, a personal learning and research project launched two decades ago.

The creator has been running his English blog, https://shengliver.com/, since 2005. The audio stories, hosted on Spotify’s podcast creator’s platform, Anchor, are available on a dozen podcasting sites, such as Spotify, Audible, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. Audience in China can hear the stories on XMLY. Those outside China can access the fully-fledged project website, Shengliver Studio, at https://shengliver.com/. They can also subscribe to the podcast with the same title, Shengliver Studio, on a podcast app, through the RSS feed https://anchor.fm/s/4e1dc038/podcast/rss.

3 Who is the author?

The author is Shengliver, a teacher of English based in Hubei, China. With over 30 years of frontline teaching under his belt, he is not only passionate about teaching and learning the language but also genuinely concerned about the budding fellow humans he works with. The stories originate from his teenage students’ English journals. After being picked, they are revised, polished, refined and then published.

None of the stories are AI generated. The creator still consults dictionaries, thesauruses and encyclopaedias in the production process. Some of the images are synthesised on AI apps.

4 Are the audio versions read from a script or simply told?

The audio stories are not read from a script. Rather, they are spoken from the mind. Yes, the written stories come before the audio ones, but the creator makes it a rule to narrate each story from his mind. His rationale is that speaking differs from reading on paper. Speaking is a spontaneous mental and physical process. It is far more challenging and complex than reading a text aloud. A learner in China can read somewhat, but flowing speech is rarer than hens’ teeth in this country, where so much time and effort is spent in acquiring the foreign tongue.

As a result, do not be alarmed when you find a recording does not match the text word for word. The idea, for the most part, is the same. What is perceived by the ear and what greets the eye may take different forms.

5 Should the audience pay to read or listen?

No, almost all of the entries are free. The pay button is there just for fun. No one is under any obligation to shell out a cent, so please do not feel any guilt. A small number of items are put up there for a small fee, either for the reason that the work is completely Shengliver’s labour, or because the contents involve sensitive issues or the original teen writer’s privacy. In either case, Shengliver does not desire much publicity for the story. Hence the exclusivity.

Monetary gains from readers will contribute eventually to better creating equipment.

6 Is it British English or American English?

Shengliver, a Chinese national, sticks to British English in his writing and speech. In text you will find spellings, punctuation marks and all the other language norms employed the English way throughout. In speech, the English style is preferred as well. A practised ear can surely hear the narrator’s pronunciation and accent tinged by his mother tongue, Mandarin. The tinge is not a curse, though. It has won many a listener’s fondness.

7 Where does the background music come from?

Shengliver takes this opportunity to acknowledge the musicians whose music has been adopted in the mixing of the stories. In most cases, the proprietors cannot be traced for most of the tunes are collected or scavenged on the Web. It is not the creator’s intention to steal their intellectual property. And he is nonetheless indebted to the artists whoever they might be.

8 Can a reader write seriously to Shengliver?

Yes, he can. Although mobile devices, especially phones, are an efficient means of information and communication, creating on them, including writing, is far from effective and professional. Serious readers are encouraged to write on a word processor and send the work to shengliver@hotmail.com.

There is no telling a contribution from a reader might get featured on Shengliver’s WeChat MP.