By Lisa Li

(Chinese here)

It is approaching the end of year, a time when people are more inclined to take a short break from routines and take some time looking back and looking forward. China Youthology sort of did the same.

2008 has been a lot of happenings for Chinese youth and China Youthology: the events (big and non-big ones) we have observed, new places we’ve been to, new young friends we met, stories we have heard… Chinese youth are as fast-changing and diversified as always. It becomes harder then ever to try to make sense of the generation by ‘mega trends’, and a great variety of ‘micro trends’ become more important for any attempts to understand the young generation in China.

When we are aligned on the point that the Chinese youth culture are growing towards greater diversity and higher tolerance, I feel reassured to talk about some trends China Youthology observed in 2008, which I believe will continue to make sense in 2009.

1. ‘Self-oriented social participation’

‘While the post 80s/90s generation has been coined ‘little emperors’ with concerns about their selfishness, lacking of responsibility, loss of traditional values… Year 2008, with the Tibetan issue, the Sichuan earthquake, and of course the Beijing Olympic, the society were a bit surprised to find that the generation have been underrated in responsibility, enterprising spirits (seeking self achievement via hard work), and love and care towards the country. ‘ – Bird Nest Generation, What Does the Beijing Olympic Tell Us about Chinese Youth (Kungfu! Issue 2) by China Youthology

Snapshots: blood donation for Xichuan earthquake, volunteers for Beijing Olympic, volunteers for NGOs

This does not indicate a going-back from ‘individualism’ to ‘collectivism’ though. Youth choose to do the ‘good doings’ because they are considered right and modern to do not because they are something to conform to.

2.    ‘Post－Globalized Chinese’

‘Our generation have been following trends from the States and from Japan since childhood, and one day we asked ourselves why not creating something that is Chinese cool?’ – Tong Yun, Tyakasha, Shanghai

Snapshots: vintage trend, Douban group of ‘Made in China Classics’, Chinese elements employed in indie designs (see previous post)

What’s cool is not only something that’s Chinese, but also things that’s associated with both Chinese and the unique memories of this generation (see previous post: ‘connect with Chinese youth in their collective memories’).

3.    ‘Seize the day’: from ‘fun’ to ‘creativity’ and ‘entrepreneurship’

Being young has always been about killing boredom and/or releasing passion. But the energy of Chinese youth, especially the more edgy youth, is directed less to ‘fun-seeking’ and more to ‘creativity’ or ‘entrepreneurship’ today.

Snapshots: indie designers’ flee-markets, tons of artists on ‘artists page’ on Douban, online shops on Taobao.com

4.    From ‘cool’ to ‘geeky’

One typical answer to our ice-breaking introduction of ‘Hey I’m doing research about what’s in and cool in Chinese youth. Can we have a chat?’ would be ‘wow nice, but I’m not a trendy guy/girl at all.’ (‘我不潮’)

‘Being cool’ turns from surface to essence. ‘Low key’ is the way. The ‘coolest’ don’t equip themselves with visible cool symbols but geeky capabilities/knowledge, from music, art, to something about technology or science, to any weird obsessions.

Snapshots: take a look at girls playing rock in Beijing (Hedgehog drummer and Carsick Cars drummer)

5.    From ‘indulgence’ to ‘moderation’

I’m not sure if LOHAS is the label that youth would like to associate themselves with (basically they don’t seem to be fans of any ‘labels’). The ancient wisdom of moderation and sustainability starts to gain its stage among the young generation who have been trying (and successfully ) to break many boundaries in their life to live with more indulgence.

Snapshots: I see more and more youth sharing health-related articles on Xiaonei.com (which is the Chinese facebook), more young girls (often come with peers) appearing in the crowd in traditional Chinese medical centers, going to bed at 10pm for a ‘beauty sleep’ (美容觉) becoming cool when staying up late the normal, popular groups on Douban about ‘organic living’, ‘Lohas’ …

The increasing pressure in life, the growing incidence of diseases such as cancer and heart disease in younger age, and issues of food safety can all account for the trend. Growing appreciation of sustainability and oriental philosophy are also the undercurrents.

What other interesting changes you have observed? Welcome to put your observations in the comments.

COMING NEXT…

Last but not least, while ‘trends’ make it easier for us to understand complex things, it sometimes can also lead to bias. Chinese youth, uniquely mashed up with western and eastern experiences, pre-modern and modern memories, is ‘a book of paradox’, as China Youthology put it. We are working on the ‘book of Paradox’ which hopefully provide a guideline of understanding the young generation in China in a comprehensive way. Will share soon at our website.

Filed under: So What?, 2008, 2009, China youth, creative cutlure, Douban, entrepreneur, geeky, globalization, identity, individualism, Lisa Li, lohas, social responsibility, trend, year end, Zafka Zhang