Grants | Meet Starch Boy, CVS’s first grant recipient!
If you go out for a walk in Dali, keep your eyes peeled for this street stall:
This is Billy Zheng, aka Starch Boy. And this stall is no lemonade stand. Rather than offering you a snack or a drink, Billy will probably ask you a question:
"It's 2022—why are you still eating animals?"
Or maybe,
"If you wouldn't eat a dog, why would you eat a pig?"
At age 25, Billy is one of China's up-and-coming vegan youth influencers. His engaging and thought-provoking explainer videos probing the environmental, ethical, and health problems caused by animal consumption are widely viewed and shared on Chinese social media. He participates in debates on animal rights and the vegan movement. And now, with the support of the China Vegan Society, Billy may be bringing his on-the-ground vegan advocacy to a street corner near you!
Billy is the first participant in the China Vegan Society's Grant Program. Launched in March 2022, the Grant Program aims to nurture China's vegan movement by funding diverse grassroots advocacy campaigns launched by individuals and organizations across the country.
To continue producing high-quality video content that can attract and influence viewers, Billy needed more professional recording equipment—a costly investment for a young freelancer. Just when he was worrying about how to finance this investment, he learned about the CVS Grant Program and decided to apply.
After passing the program evaluation, Billy received funding and advisory support that helped him launch a new experimental advocacy project: engaging strangers in unscripted discussions about consuming animals and publishing the conversations as short videos.
To attract participants, he created eye-catching signage and set up his booth in busy urban areas and university campuses. When curious passers-by approached to ask what he was doing, he interviewed them about their views and filmed the discussion.
Billy's animal advocacy experience goes back to his time as a student in the US. He often attended vegan advocacy events and was particularly impressed by the approach of engaging strangers in impromptu debates and discussions. After returning to China, Billy found there were few activities like this. In 2020 and 2021 he decided to try launching some himself, raising awareness about animal-friendly vegan lifestyles by inviting people to discuss and reflect on these topics with him.
When his initial efforts didn't get the results he hoped for, Billy didn't give up. Instead, he found a new medium where he could get the maximum possible number of people to willingly engage with his message: social media videos.
Billy joined the WeChat video platform and began publishing content. In his short videos, Billy exposes the shocking truths behind mainstream consumers' favorite animal products and invites viewers to ask themselves why they believe they should consume these products. The videos were successful and quickly accumulated lots of shares and views. But based on his previous experiences, Billy still believed that passive content consumption was too limiting and that two-way communication was key to successful advocacy. Online debates are no substitute for delivering the truth face-to-face. He wanted to find a way to interact directly with the average consumer on the street, where he could have a deeper and more impactful connection and observe people's reactions.
"I think one of the best ways for people to promote veganism to the public and do as much as they can is to do activities in public spaces."
——Billy Zheng, aka. Starch Boy
So Billy took to the streets again. He went first to the university neighborhoods, where he hoped to find independent-minded college students who would be more open to his challenging questions. However, epidemic prevention policies limited his access to campuses and students, so he adjusted his plan and set up his stall outside supermarkets, restaurants, and tourist attractions. These locations gave him an opportunity to talk to a diverse array of people, from college students and tourists to seniors and schoolchildren.
At first, Billy found it difficult to talk to people. Some passers-by made the first move and came up to ask him about his stall, but when he initiated the conversation, he felt anxious and shy at first. But once he'd started the conversation with the soul-searching question, "Why do you eat meat?", the conversations flowed into a series of topics related to consuming animals:
"Should people eat animals?"
"What is the difference between breeding animals and protecting them?"
"Is eating meat bad for our health?"
"Is it immoral to breed and slaughter animals?"
"Is there any other choice in diet to avoid harming farmed animals?"
"What's the difference between our human and animal lives?"
"How do our eating habits impact the environment?"
"What do you think of the climate crisis?"
Many participants found themselves speechless in response to these questions and opted to ponder in silence.
In order to better communicate with people, Billy researched discussion methods such as the Socratic method, which seeks to stimulate critical thinking and draw out ideas and subconscious biases by asking questions about the ideas people express.
Billy found that when asked why they eat meat, many people answered, "Because meat is rich in protein." Then he would ask them, "Do plants have no protein?" Of course, most of the people were not nutrition experts and didn't have a clear answer to that question, so Billy took the opportunity to educate them a little about plant-based nutrition.
Although the project encountered inevitable roadblocks and adjustments, Billy found it very meaningful to be able to engage people in face-to-face dialogue and inspire them to empathize with animals and consider the possibility of a plant-based lifestyle.
Billy also learned a lot through the experience. He got to listen to different people's views on animals, life, and veganism. He found that for many people, the main barrier to adopting a compassionate vegan lifestyle is simply ignorance. The experience reinforced Billy's conviction that to effectively promote veganism, all we need is solid communication.
For Billy, his Dali street stall is just the beginning. In the future, he hopes that he can bring his vegan discussion stall to more cities in China, or even tour his vegan debate stall to universities across the country.
To other vegan advocates, Billy gives this advice: don't hesitate. As long as you have an idea, just do it. Join the CVS Grant Program and collaborate with other advocates to bring the vegan message to the public in new and impactful ways.
Scan the QR code to follow Starch Boy on WeChat