In a recent WeChat post, Yu Minhong, the founder and chairman, said the company had laid off more than 60,000 employees. Severance payments, tuition refunds and costs for terminated leases for teaching centers totaled almost 20 billion yuan ($3 billion), he said.

Most of the employees in Dong's old department took severance payments and left the company.

"I do not have time to feel sorry for myself. I felt ashamed that so many colleagues lost their jobs and I could do nothing about it," he said. "I stayed because I wanted to do the right thing to help farmers sell their produce. I was born in a village in Shaanxi and my family still lives there, so I feel obliged to contribute to rural vitalization."

Being a livestreaming host is harder than he had imagined, though, and it has led to many sleepless nights as he has had to deal with online trolls and live feedback from netizens.

"There were personal attacks about my looks, and complaints from people who had bought company (Koolearn) shares and lost money," he said.

"Moreover, netizens doubted whether agricultural produce could make a profit and asked why we weren't selling products with higher profit margins."

Dong added that he also has to field questions about the high prices of some products and complaints that a few are not up to standard.

"I tell myself to focus on explaining the stories behind the produce and the farmers and not pay attention to the negative comments, but it is not easy," he said.

He added that he feels it would be a shame to give up too easily, while his original aspirations to help farmers have not changed.

"I am still confident about my future. Whenever I feel it's too hard to carry on, I take a long walk or read a book," he said.