The video and photo she takes and posts on social media recording the evolving stages of all kinds of molds have won over her many followers.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Since 2017 she has posted more than 60 videos, gathering more than 1 million fans on all online platforms, such as Sina Weibo and video-sharing platform Bilibili.

For her, all knowledge about fungus has to be self-learned. She read English essays and books to study how to cultivate different fungi.

Some of her fans also want to cultivate fungi like Zhou.

So, Zhou figured out a way to cultivate slime mold and makes a product that everyone can use to cultivate by themselves following her detailed instructions.

The product has been ordered more than 200 times each month on e-commerce platform Taobao. According to Zhou, some use it for experiments, some for art design and some even take it as a type of "pet".

"Many of the customers are students or parents, and the slime mold can continue to multiply so that one student can share with his or her whole class to observe and play with it, which may attract more fans," she says.