He Tongxue: The Tech Storyteller Who Redefined Digital Creativity on Bilibili

He Tongxue, whose real name is He Shijie, is a Chinese digital technology content creator and one of the most influential figures in Bilibili's technology and knowledge ecosystem. Born in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, he graduated from the International School of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, where he studied telecommunications engineering with a focus on internet of things technology. His channel, "Teacher, My Name Is He Tongxue," which translates roughly to "Teacher, I Am He Tongxue," is a deliberate play on the classroom roll-call convention, signaling from the outset his identity as a student creator speaking to a peer audience. He began uploading videos to Bilibili in October 2017, with his first upload being a simple Premiere tutorial on creating a "door transition" effect. What began as a modest hobby while he was still a university student would, within two years, transform him into a national phenomenon, and within a decade, into a creator with over twelve million followers on Bilibili and a significant international presence through his English-language YouTube channel, HTX Studio.

He Tongxue's entry into content creation was driven less by a desire for fame than by a genuine fascination with how technology works and how it can be explained to ordinary people. His early videos were characterized by a distinctive blend of technical curiosity, cinematic storytelling, and emotional resonance, a combination that set him apart from the conventional tech review format that dominated Bilibili's technology section at the time. Rather than simply listing specifications or benchmarking hardware, he approached each video as a narrative about technology's place in human life, often using himself as the protagonist in a story of experimentation, failure, and eventual discovery. This storytelling instinct, combined with a meticulous attention to visual composition and sound design, gave his work a production quality that rivaled professional media while retaining the intimacy and authenticity of a personal vlog.

The video that launched He Tongxue into mainstream visibility was his June 2019 upload titled "How Fast Is 5G Really?" The video, released just as China was beginning its large-scale rollout of 5G networks, approached the question not through abstract technical explanation but through a series of vivid, relatable experiments. He tested 5G speeds in locations ranging from a university campus to a tourist landmark, measured the latency in scenarios that mattered to ordinary users, and ultimately posed a deeper question: what will 5G actually enable that 4G cannot? The video resonated because it captured a moment of collective curiosity about a technology that was being heavily promoted but poorly understood. It accumulated tens of millions of views, was widely shared across Chinese social media, and established He Tongxue as a creator capable of translating complex technological shifts into compelling human narratives.

What distinguishes He Tongxue from other technology creators on Bilibili is the extent to which his videos function as short films rather than conventional product reviews. His 2021 video "I Made the Product Apple Gave Up On" documented his attempt to build a functional version of AirPower, Apple's cancelled wireless charging mat, using a combination of off-the-shelf components, custom 3D-printed parts, and a significant amount of trial and error. The video was not merely a demonstration of technical skill; it was a meditation on the nature of innovation, the value of pursuing seemingly impossible projects, and the emotional payoff of bringing an idea into physical reality. In 2025, his video "We Made a Special Keyboard" documented his team's effort to design and build a single-handed keyboard for a user with a disability, a project that combined engineering problem-solving with genuine social purpose. That video won Bilibili's Annual Best Work award, recognizing both its technical ambition and its humanitarian impulse.

He Tongxue's platform influence is substantial and measurable. As of January 2026, his Bilibili channel has over 12.56 million followers, placing him among the platform's most-followed individual creators. He has been selected for Bilibili's Top 100 UP Creators list in multiple years, including 2021, 2023, and 2025, and his videos consistently achieve millions of views. His interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook in February 2021, conducted remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, was a landmark moment for Bilibili as a platform, demonstrating that its creators could secure access to global technology leaders on terms of intellectual equality. In 2024, he was named to Forbes China's 50 New Media Opinion Leaders list, and he participated in the documentary "Yang Sheng," which explored the intersection of technology and personal life. His expansion to YouTube under the HTX Studio brand, where he gained over one million subscribers within a year, represents a rare instance of a Chinese creator achieving significant traction in the English-language digital sphere.

The broader social value of He Tongxue's work lies in his demonstration that technology content can be both intellectually rigorous and emotionally engaging. He does not shy away from technical detail, but he always frames it within a human story. His videos encourage viewers to see technology not as a collection of inert objects but as a domain of possibility, creativity, and ethical choice. For young viewers considering careers in engineering, design, or media, he offers a model of creative practice that is both commercially viable and personally meaningful. His willingness to address controversial topics, including a 2025 incident involving a ride-hailing driver that sparked debate about creator responsibility, and his subsequent public apology and disclosure of his company's financial challenges, added a dimension of vulnerability and accountability that is rare among high-profile creators. This willingness to engage with failure and criticism, rather than retreating into a curated public image, has arguably deepened his credibility with his audience.

In summary, He Tongxue represents a distinctive model of the creator as auteur, someone who treats each video as a work of authored storytelling rather than a content product. His background in engineering gives him the technical fluency to attempt ambitious projects, while his instincts as a filmmaker give him the ability to communicate why those projects matter. For Bilibili, he is a symbol of the platform's capacity to nurture creators who transcend their original niche and speak to a broad national and international audience. For the broader landscape of technology media, he is a reminder that the most enduring stories about technology are not about specifications but about people, their curiosity, their limitations, and their capacity to imagine and build a better version of the world around them.