30.03.2017

What do teenagers in Beijing consider cool, and what bloggers are their role models? What do Chinese women think about Western cosmetic brands, and what cars do they like driving? How can the Chinese social web thrive and flourish despite state censorship? And how do online banking and online marketing work in China? These are some of the issues I will be discussing in this new blog. From now on, this is where you will find exciting first-hand information about the Chinese market, its people, its rules and its future developments.

But before I start, please allow me to briefly introduce myself: My name is Chen Yiming, I am 30 years old and work as a research manager for GIM China in Shanghai. I studied Management and Business in Shanghai and Sydney. I love writing about brands, products and trends. And I do so from the point of view of a “Young Global Consumer” who is rooted in China but has also got to know Western culture.

The vision of generation Y: creativity instead of copy!

In my first post, I would like to talk about my generation, the Chinese Generation Y. Our generation is different. We want to correct an image the Western world probably has of China: that of a country of plagiarism, me-too products and imitations. Of course, this is still true. But it is changing! My generation is committed to creativity and real imagination. We want to live in a country whose creative achievements we can be proud of. This is why I want to talk about the first strong signs of change. Let’s start with a TV show which is greatly successful in my age group: Junior Edison.

The show has been on air since 2014 and still enjoys high ratings, even in its third season. But it is not about stage talent or looking good, but about the creativity and inventiveness of Chinese high-school and college students. In each episode, there are three to four candidates at the age of 10-18 years who are presenting their inventions to a jury. The jury consists of a businessperson, a college president, an inventor and a media professional. The winner’s prize is a study trip to Sweden, Alfred Nobel’s country. Five million students participated in the last online pre-selection. But what’s so exciting about this show? What does its success tell us? Chinese students can present themselves in a completely new manner. Unlike others, this show is not about reproducing memorized knowledge and providing the correct answers to exam questions. No, here you are one of the best if you are creative and can do something exciting with your own knowledge. For the Chinese society, this program marks an enormous change in paradigms!

Heroes of generation Y: Junior Edison Stars and NBA Cracks

Someone who jumped to fame on Junior Edison is an 18-year-old from Changsha who did everything he could to invent a word processing machine: a complex device made of Lego which was supposed to recognize and print out marked text sections by means of a camera. He was tinkering with his invention for months, although his mother wanted him to dedicate his time to memorizing contents taught at college (which is typical of Chinese education) that is, she wanted him to do what is considered a guarantee of future professional success in China. But this guy followed his own, new values: I am creative and believe in what I do, and I won’t care about what others believe is right for me. And this is how he won over the audience’s hearts and became a much-noticed star of the program, not only among my age group.

More and more global brands in search of success in China cater to this new, creative-individualist ideal. One example is Adidas: The German sports brand hits exactly this nerve with its “Creators” campaign. The famous NBA basketball player James Harden is the brand’s testimonial in a commercial which has gone viral and is hugely successful among the Chinese Generation Y. Its claim is turning into the life motto of many young Chinese: “Creators never follow”. It precisely addresses those brand attributes which are highly important for our Generation Y: authenticity, honesty, attitude:

“Real talk.
Be who you are. 
Do what you feel, always. 
Because those who mind, don't matter. 
Those who matter, they don't mind at all. 
You still here?”

adidas | Sport 15 Creators Never Follow (JAMES HARDEN)

We leave a new mark on Chinese society

China has already been a dynamic market in the last few years, especially because of its size and its population’s need to catch up economically. Generation Y is another exciting factor which will surely maintain and drive this dynamism in the years to come. As we have seen, we, the young wild, appreciate creativity, are open to new experiences and have quite few traditional mental limits. We grew up in a time when the Chinese economy was developing at a dizzying speed and most of us (at least those living in metropolises and metropolitan areas) grew up without any significant material restrictions. Our educational standard has increased and our consumption behavior is complex.  On the one hand, we are characterized by a much greater brand consciousness and brand affinity than our parents, but on the other hand also by a certain aversion to consumption. Status symbols are still important to us, but values such as self-realization and acquiring a wealth of experiences are gaining importance. Studies tell us that nearly half the 18–25-year-olds in China say: “I own enough, I don’t feel any great need for further acquisitions”. In the US and Japan, only about one-third of their peers say the same.

Being proud of our own brands? An unfamiliar and nice feeling…

Recently I spent a few days in Vietnam. I was impressed not only by the advertisements for Chinese electronic devices and smartphones which were visible everywhere, but especially by the fact that not only the Vietnamese themselves, but also many of the Russian and European tourists were using Chinese smartphones. I hadn’t expected that! I was downright proud when I noticed that Chinese products on the Night Market in Saigon were not mainly represented by fake Louis Vuitton bags as was the case in the past, but by proper Chinese brands. By the way, in 2016, the big Chinese smartphone brands Huawei, OPPO and vivo ranked right behind Samsung and Apple (Huawei 9 percent, OPPO 7 percent, vivo 5 percent versus Samsung 21 percent and Apple 15 percent).

It might be hard to believe for people in the Western world: Even Chinese official policy is becoming more flexible. For example, last year, industry was called upon to change the old “Made in China” label (中国制造, pronounced: zhong guo zhi zao) into “Smart Made in China” (中国智造, same pronunciation). By the way, the current Five-Year Plan for National Technical Innovation provides that China shall be greener, smarter and more service-oriented by 2025. So, there is a lot to expect, for example in the area of mobility.