By: Lisa Li

Today China Youthology enjoyed a talk with Curt Shi (who is Curt Shi?), an investor who wears ‘Shehui’ skateboarding tee and who sometimes does ‘balancing’ on skateboard while watching TV. Curt was one of the 1st generation pioneers of China’s skateboarding in 90s and he has been ‘in the circle’ until today. No worry about losing some of the skills, Curt, I think you are still highly possible the best sk8er among investors or the best investor among sk8ers in China. Just kidding.

From the perspective of skateboarding industry, it is strategic to understand the local skateboarding culture from ‘in the circle’ to ‘outside of the circle’ to craft a strategy that best fit the China market. According to Curt, the number of hardcore sk8ers in China is no more than thousands while skateboarding is a mainstream for the boys in the States. There’s certainly great room for development…  On the other hand, despite the smallness and exclusivity of skateboard community, skateboarding has become the ‘cool symbol’ to both Chinese youth and the youth brands. There’s a large group of youth who fancy the skateboard culture – we can see that from the vans and Nike SB sneakers on their feet. A deeper understanding of Chinese skateboard culture and its influence on the mass would definitely help us understand more about the youth trends.

Thanks to Curt, we have learnt a lot of fabulous insights today which is much helpful for our coming research about skateboarding subculture. More to come…

Filed under: China Youthology News, Sports, China youth culture, Curt Shi, Lisa Li, She Hui, skateboard