I was in the perfect position to observe our target market firsthand. Feeling refreshed to not to be in a crowd of expats, I was mind blown by how much the local scene has developed, mesmerized by the crowd’s energy, dance moves, chic attire, and especially their confidence. In the beginning, I was just interested because the Nengmao store-owner our street team interviewed last week was half-hosting the show and I really wanted to check out his 80′s China retro chic shirts designs.

As I arrived at about half past ten, a Taiwanese band named Go Chic was playing. On vocal was a sassy lady with short blonde hair jumping across the stage trying to hype up the crowd, but I was not too impressed.

Mao was the most packed I’ve ever seen it. Looking around, I wondered where all these trendy types are hiding during day time. It was the most hip/indie Chinese kiddies I have seen gather in one place, (guess I’ve been going to the wrong places…) Many of them were sporting Nengmao clothing, especially a lightning shirt that came free with the first 200 purchased tickets, good marketing strategy…

After a bit of wandering and chatting with strangers I seem to repeatedly encounter on the weekends, it was time to go back in and watch the main act- New Pants from Beijing. At first, it seemed a lot quieter than Go Chic, seducing the audience with a sweet little lullaby called “Being together.”

Then, out of nowhere, the keyboarder took off his bug-eye glasses, put on a Mao cap, and took over the center of stage, channeling a whole new vigorous atmosphere to the crowd. Their eccentric dance moves and rich instrumental sounds were driving the crowd and I was utterly surprised by their incredible performance. In fact, at that point I realized that I was a virgin to local Chinese acts and was astonished by how creative and musically talented Chinese bands could be. It was really refreshing to see such a passionate and energetic crowd, made up of 90% Chinese youngsters, basking in the glory of the lush sounds, rhythmical movements, and vibrant attires.

The fans at the front started mosh pits, a few attempted stage dives, and towards the end some even bravely climbed on stage, dancing madly with the band. It was a very “很HIGH” moment as the Chinese would say.

Finally, after a few encores, fans were satisfied, caught in the moment, and many rushed to the product booths to purchase more Nengmao shirts and other New Pants products. New Pants’ very own singer Peng lei wrote and illustrated one of the books for sell (Peking Monster). Its raw verse, childlike drawings, and imaginative content stand out as a great symbol of Chinese pop culture. When asked his opinion on the future of art in China, he explained,

“The Chinese government recently realized that investing in creative industries is much cheaper than subsidizing oil and coal. So they started to give money to young people to encourage them do the creative projects that might turn profitable. However, in China, the government still puts limitations on those of us who are “too” creative. For example we had some music performances that were shut down by the government because we were doing punk music, which those politicians thought was evil or something. So I would say there is still a long way to go before I can say that China is a country that supports its artists.”

Fortunately, from what we have seen on Friday night, even without the support from the Chinese government, the creative arts and music scene in Shanghai is thriving and doesn’t see a sign of stopping… yet.

Users need to enroll on the main competition page and then recommend music for the BMW 3 series on the 9911 microblog. Other users (which seem to be mainly friends of the participants) can vote for their peers and by July 1, the 2 participants with the most votes will win a trip to the famous Fuji Rock Festival!! (Japanese version)





As of today, the competition has already attracted over 36,700 participants and is still going strong. The top 2 competing users currently have 2614 votes and 1289 votes respectively.





This campaign links to myspace’s strong presence in indie music, and capitalizes on the rising popularity of music festivals in China. The target audience (the young music enthusiast and ‘Japanophile’) fits well with the target market for the BMW 3 series, which represents an aspiration for youth as well. Key elements utilized in this campaign are:

• High interest topic, high profile prize
• Social sharing functions on myspace and 9911 microblog
• Having contestants spread the word about the competition in order to win votes
• Allowing each person to vote once a day helps in psychologically utilizing social proof and also boosts return visits to the site
• The use of influencers (e.g. musicians) in the voting guarantees some more general appeal

However, there are also several limitations we see from this campaign:

First, the platform. It’s obviously in myspace’s best interest to keep this campaign within the myspace platform. However this limits the potential audience reach. It will be interesting to see how many new users myspace acquire through this campaign and what percentage of them will remain active after the campaign. By being completely contained on the singular myspace platform also hinders the spreading of this campaign onto other platforms.

Since the general idea is that the contestants will go on to their IM or SNS page(s) to broadcast this message, one can calculate the reach by applying a simple forumla: # of contestants x # of friends reached. There are several conversion steps happening here and you are guaranteed to lose a percentage of people at each step: participate, ask friends to vote, click through, friends vote or not (need to sign up for myspace to vote)… I’ve always thought it’s kind of a shame that we don’t have any good cross-platform sites like digg or stumbleupon. Is it because the social networks in China are all trying too hard to captivate their users so they don’t open up to third party sites?

Secondly, the transparency debate. This competition is very transparent in that it discloses all key numbers, number of participants, number of votes, etc. Transparency is good and gives credibility to the competition but on the other hand, it also discourages the runner-ups to strive for more votes if the gap is too big.  This might be why we see the votes drop sharply between the #1 contestant and #5.

Finally, competition. When there’s a big prize involved, competition is competition. We saw some trash talking between the top contestants, and criticism on each other’s music tastes etc. It’s okay for this campaign but if you’re aiming for a collaborative campaign, then I would say a big prize definitely discourages collaboration.

With the competition about to reach its climax, it will be interesting to see how myspace can follow through with sending the bloggers to Japan and if they can cause a big stir with that experience.

What’s your impression about the campaign? Would love to hear from our readers!

EXTRA READING: List of “voting” campaigns on various platforms

McD on douban: http://www.douban.com/minisite/mtoys/public_album/29147861/?start=60
NB on poco: http://www1.poco.cn/topic/nb_2010/index.php?r=index/topic
Nike Sportswear on Renren: http://page.renren.com/600003017/page-02

First stop: Waipo Jia! If you end up in Hangzhou, DO NOT MISS this delectable culinary experience! Great food, great price, great, great, great. Tell them enovate sent you…

Satiated, we strolled alongside hordes of tourists and locals by the Westlake. Musicians lined the roads. Old men bowed their er hu’s while women belted into low-fi mics, with other brightly dressed women dancing rhythmic interpretations of traditional-Chinese-dance-meets-1920s-swing. Truly a site to behold.

A bit more walking, and we ended up at the day’s main event: The Xihu Music Festival. Blessed with perfect weather, we spent the day laying in grass, hopping in on drum circles, chatting to locals about Hangzhou’s hidden secrets, and of course, listening to music. The highlight for many was Taiwanese headliner, Soda Green, with other acts including 声音碎片 (Sheng Yin Sui Pian), Pitch Tuner, and Angie Hart.

The following day, our former intern / Hangzhou-extraordinaire, George, showed us around and introduced us to some friends, including the guys responsible for Charm Cafe. Read more about their efforts in promoting Hangzhou’s creative culture in today’s earlier post.

But rather than take you through a step-by-step narrative, I asked a couple people around the office to offer an anecdote, an observation, or something memorable. This has been our cooler-talk these past 3 days:

John

During our recent weekend visit to Hangzhou, there was one thing that really blew me away–the apparent level of government involvement in building the creative scene in Hangzhou. Speaking to Shu Chang, he indicated that it was the government who encouraged them to open up the cafe and creative space as the local government was interested in providing a space to support the various artists. Although funding and investment in the arts happens throughout China and also in the US, I was surprised that it was happening more at the grassroots level. I can see more of this happening in cities throughout China in the near future.

Joey

“Hangzhou is a place to live, Shanghai is a place for opportunities.” This was a statement from enovate’s Hangzhou street team leader, George, who is entering his senior year, majoring in Fashion Marketing and Engineering. “I will definitely be looking for work in Shanghai after I graduate,” George continued.

I love Shanghai. I live here, work here and the city’s energy keeps me focused and motivated like a higher power. However, I could not help but imagine living in Hangzhou, a wide-side-walked relaxing, creative hub where tourists come to frolic and over 7 million people reside. For George, Shanghai represents a city of opportunity, future possibilities and an escape for work. For me, Hangzhou also represents a city of opportunities and future possibilities, yet more of an escape from work. A world of difference.

Simon

One experience especially sticks out. I met a guy from Beijing at the festival who had just relocated to Hangzhou to work in the “Chinese culture business,” i.e. selling tea and Taichi to foreigners. I thought this is ironic since Beijing is widely considered as China’s cultural centre.

He said that he could enjoy his life much more in Hangzhou as he didn’t feel like he was working and spending all his time on public transport. He liked the weather and the more manageable size of the city. I wouldn’t exactly call this reverse migration, but maybe smart migration. I am not insinuating that Hangzhou will surpass Beijing in terms of culture. Rather, Hangzhou is a bit of an anomaly in China’s tiered ranking system. It does not qualify as a first tier city, but it stands apart from any other second tier city. Let’s call it a Tier 1.5.

Jermaine

I have found that Hangzhou is a city that cares for its travelers and citizens. For instance, during one of our taxi rides, Cola pointed out large awnings installed on intersections that were intended to keep cyclists protected from the elements while waiting for their lights to change. No more burning under the sun — no more getting drenched by torrential rain. It turns out these awnings were installed as advertising space. The local government cover their expenses by selling advertisement space. It is an action that benefits both the society and commerce. Hangzhou’s emphasis on environmental protection and a sustainable lifestyle has fueled a noteworthy biking culture. It’s great place to live, and a shinning example for other cities!

Leon

Hangzhou is defining itself as a main hub for China’s creative culture. Its relaxed, almost Bohemian, disposition makes it a perfect hotbed for the creatives. The yearly festivals like Xihu Music Festival, now have a nationwide reputation as a good event. More and more people are making the trip to see it for themselves. The city’s population is also becoming increasingly stylish. People everywhere were well dressed. Plus, as we learned from the guys over at Charm Cafe, the local government is taking bold steps to promote creativity in Hangzhou. The city surely holds a bright future.

Fabio

First, some thoughts about the independent brand “odi et amo.” Seeing Chinese kids be proud of the ancient quote of Catullo, a major Latin poet, made me quite nostalgic. I’ve studied Latin literature and language for five years, and as I delve deeper into China, I’m finding many similarities between the two cultures. Yet I still believe there is a lot of room in China to import more Italian and Greek culture. For now, it’s limited to Sinicized Italian restaurants with an inauthentic feel (i.e. Saizeriya). Speaking of food, I loved the Xihu Music Festival, but found the total lack of food and beverages unfortunate. People were getting McDonalds delivered to the entrance and sneaking in beers!

Mike

For one shining weekend it seemed like Hangzhou was the place to be in all of China. The weather was perfect, the tunes were rocking, libations were plentiful… Finally I understood at least half the statement of old: “The sky has heaven, earth has Suzhou and Hangzhou.” I’m still not completely sold on Suzhou (although I am a fan of at least of I. M. Pei’s New Suzhou Museum). But Hangzhou? More than once our band of enovators wistfully pined: “can we move here?”, “what if our new office was in HZ?”, and “this is the LIFE”. The lake, the festival, the bicycle friendly city planning, and most of all the food conspired to trap us all in its net like Oz’s poppy fields…

Festival culture in China is growing fast, and this year Beijing saw it’s greatest round of festivals yet! Those in attendance had three distinct events to choose from: Strawberry, Midi, and the Chaoyang Park music festival — each with its own feel and flare. I skipped the Chaoyang Park festival, but got a full dose of indie rock at Strawberry and Midi. Due to either poor planning or competitive spirit, both events went down on the same weekend. It turned into a bit of a Midi vs Strawberry showdown, and it seems most people would agree with me when I say: I liked Midi, but preferred Strawberry.

The Lineup Strawberry lasted 3 days with 6 stages and 132 bands/artists. The lineup was mostly local, as was the audience. Midi featured 5 stages with 139 bands/artists over 4 days. The Midi had a dozen overseas bands/artists, which may help explain its popularity with foreigners in China. While there was quite a bit of overlap in lineups, Strawberry had a couple big-name artists locked in exclusively, including 后海大鲨鱼 (Queen Sea Big Shark)，左小诅咒 (Zuoxiaozuzhou)，果味VC (Super VC). All in all, Strawberry showcased more Pop Rock acts, while Midi was more Rock & Roll.

Brand Presence Strawberry had a much larger array of brand sponsorship and media partners. Both festivals featured massive screens with occasional advertisements and booths where brands engaged concert-goers. The more-eye catching campaigns at Strawberry were the Renren and Diesel TVCs, a VW Polo car featured on stage, an Absolute booth where they served up fresh strawberry Vodka drinks, and the Converse and Dell booths which hosted all sorts of interactive activities for visitors. Cheap and refreshing booze meant the Absolute booth was by far the busiest, but Converse’s live paintings attracted quite the crowd as well. As for Midi, the more appealing campaigns include: Myspace’s TVCs and booth, and Clubzone.com.cn’s Hummer limo. Xiami.com, the music streaming site, gained a lot of exposure by giving out free orange scarves at both events. People came up with pretty creative ways of wearing and using the scarves.

…but What Do Chinese Youth Do at a Festival?

Drink!… not so much Absolute’s Strawberry booth hit the mark, whereas Jagermeister’s Midi presence fell short. Beers were also being served at both festivals, but don’t expect to see a western festival’s drinking culture here. These Chinese youth just don’t drink that much.

$$$ A wide-range of young entrepreneurs posted up at either festival to sell goods. These DIY vendors popped up everywhere, forming a pseudo fair. All sorts of creative paraphernalia was on sale: T-shirts, toys, posters, shoes, CDs… all the things you would expect to see at a festival.

Dress to Impress A quick glance hinted at this summer’s trends. The most popular items were 海魂衫 (white & blue striped shirts)，草帽 (straw hats), and funny T-shirts.

Enjoy the Performance Obviously, most people were there for the music, but the audience was surprisingly engaged. Hardcore fans were jumping around in a mosh-like delirium, others were swaying side-to-side in trance like rhythms. And in the true spirit of festivals, many showed up with flags to represent their hometown spirit.

Take Pictures Millions of pictures were taken as some watched most of the festival through their viewfinders. More than 30% of concert-goers were sporting heavy-guty, professional DSLRs. After the festival, many sprinted home to be the first to post photos on their Kaixin, Renren, and Douban. Just check out these Douban groups: http://www.douban.com/online/10396182/ http://www.douban.com/online/10408285/

Camping out What would a 3 day festival be without camping? At Midi, they actually allowed people to set up tents in and outside the park. Chinese youth are certainly taking their cues from international festival culture here.

… All in all, both events were a blast. While leaving Strawberry at its close, I heard a young guy sadly declaring: “This year’s fun is over. Have to wait for next year now..” I’m surprised by how much these events mean to local youth. It seems as quality of life improves, and leisure is more common, many youth are seeking out meaningful events. These events provide a platform to meet interesting, likeminded folks. Festivals like these are still few and far between in China, so many take up these opportunities to gather, have fun, and make relationships even if only for a weekend.

We were honored to have Sonnet (十四行詩), Momo, Little Nature (小自然), Pinkberry, Yin (印), DJ Yen and DJ Fish to play for us live, and also Connie, Liz, Nino, Kelvin, Left, Cola, and Chris to show us live illustration. It’s always great when young artists give us a fresh dose of creativity and inspiration. eno has been and always will be standing behind the China’s young creative forces.

Here were some of the highlights:

Six of China’s biggest names in rock will be playing Texas’s South by Southwest music festival (aka SXSW). SXSW is easily one of the United States’ biggest festivals. It’s a four day event with over 1,400 performers playing roughly 80 venues.

On March 20, Carsick Cars, P.K. 14, Xiao He, Snapline, AV Okubo, and White will be playing Speakeasy until the early morning. SXSW has also arranged for a special “China Day” event for all six artists/bands as well as arranging that each plays a minimum of three shows during the festival, opening for some of the bigger acts. According to the bands’ label, Maybe Mars, they will follow-up their SXSW performances with a one-month twelve-city tour of the West Coast.

For many of these bands, playing the U.S. is nothing new. Carsick Cars, P.K. 14 and Xiao He have already played sold-out shows in American music capitals like Brooklyn. AV Okubo has also received international exposure for playing with acts like Battles and Ratatat.

Are these cultural ambassadors in the making? We certainly hope so. It’s time for the deluge of articles fueling international anxiety about China’s economic dominance to be accompanied by those articles highlighting China’s forward-thinking and creative cultures. Having already seen the above bands play Shanghai and Beijing, I’m sure those in attendance at SXSW and the following shows will have something interesting to report.

For more on China’s music scene, check out Dan Shapiro’s November article in Timeout New York.

*On another note, here’s an interesting tidbit of information: The tipping point for Twitter’s popularity was the 2007 SXSW. They cleverly installed 60-inch plasma screens in conference hallways that exclusively streamed twitter messages. During the festival, usage went from 20,000 tweets a day to 60,000. Concert goers and bloggers came home from the festival raving about twitter. The rest is history…

On Friday, January 29^th, 360quan.com hosted their 90后潮流先锋榜 (post-90’s generation pioneering trends list) awards ceremony in Beijing. Actor Li Chen emceed the event featuring stars such as Jade Liu Li Yang and Yico Zeng, who came to receive their award and perform for the cheering crowd of Chinese teenage fans from all over China.

These same cheering teenagers and their peers voted on actresses, actors, artists, bands, brands, musicians, and works of art of various types for their influence and pioneering abilities in their respective industries. In collaboration with Mogo, 1626.com and YOHO!, 360quan.com invited their post-90’s generation members to vote within two categories, one for most ‘pioneering spirit’ and the other for ‘must have’ product or brand.

eno won the award for ‘must have independent brand.’ Among the list of ‘must have’ were: HP (notebook), Samsung (mobile phone), ONLY (women’s apparel), Adidas (sports apparel), New Fei Fei 新飞飞 (Netease’s 3-D online game), YOHO! (e-commerce site), Twice (jewelry accessories) and Mito Xiu Xi 美图秀秀 (image processing software).

Here’s who they voted for pioneering spirit: Jade Liu Li Yang 刘力扬 (singer), Xiao Song Jia 小宋佳 (actress), Lucky Monkey 跳猴乐队(fusion punk band), Shi Yan Fei 施艳飞 (up & coming actress), Chang Si Si 常思思 (up & coming folk singer), Zhang Xiao He 张小盒 (online character), Chen Chen 陈晨 (written work). And here’s who they voted for the pioneering spirits of the post-90’s generation (meaning they were actually born in the 1990’s): Yico Zeng 曾轶可 (singer), Li Chen 李晨(TV host), 杨紫 Yang Zi (pop star), BY2 (Singaporean music duo), Caffiene (band), Ai Shui Shui 艾水水 (TV & Film work).

360quan.com is China’s fastest growing social media network for post-90’s generation youth. With close to 25 million registered users, 360quan.com is devoted to providing an online home for people with similar interests, online clans, and super-connectors. The platform provides all the basics of an SNS, including personal space, blogs, music, videos, photo albums, games and other multimedia services and content. Their users have a distinct urban youth culture; they are the hip-hop artists, the make-up stylists, the snowboarders and the parkour clubs that  are leading China’s youth revolution.

Once again thank you 360quan.com and special thanks to our post-90’s generation fans!

]]> http://enovatechina.com/blog/post-90%e2%80%99s-chinese-youth-vote-eno-as-a-%e2%80%98must-have%e2%80%99-brand/feed/ 1 http://enovatechina.com/blog/subcultural-clash/ http://enovatechina.com/blog/subcultural-clash/#comments Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:14:34 +0000 Simon http://enovatechina.com/blog/?p=1654 Although receiving disproportionate amounts of attention in the western media, most of China’s growing youth subcultures are still largely marginalized. Yet, as a new generation emerges, not only aware of foreign subcultures but also with access to local variations, Chinese subcultures will continue to grow more unique and will represent more fully formed alternative youth lifestyle choices.

Mainstream consciousness

With a government backed push on creativity and a generation of young Chinese now raised on the offerings of local bands and designers or artists, we have already seen the emergence of alternative lifestyle choices.

LOHAS(乐活) or “Lifestyle of Health and Stability” emerged globally in the last ten years and in China, only in the past few years yet it has became a household term in larger cities, reffering to those wanting to live more ‘green’ lives. Whilst not a youth (sub)cultural movement specifically, it shows the rate in which certain lifestyles can be reapropriated and introduced into the Chinese mainstream consciousness.

A vanguard of artists/musicians from the past decade such as PK14 or have helped show that more traditional youth subcultural pursuits aren’t solely the domain of the foreigner. With shows like Pepsi: Battle of the Bands – alternatives in music are already seeping into mainstream culture. As these ‘alternatives’ seep into mainstream then it secures further participation of future generations who can then build on or adapt these subcultural lifestyles and ideas.

Fragmenting Subcultures

As new scenes appear with more and more participants Chinese youth will no doubt strive to one up each other and further set themselves apart in their commitment to their lifestyle choice. Groups such as Fei Zhu Liu have already begun to fragment as certain elements of the “counter cultural” style are adopted by mainstream Chinese youths. Soon it won’t be a case of mainstream or subcultural but shades of grey, ranging from those committing all aspects of their lifestyle choices to those completely unaware or uninterested.

I believe that much like their Asian peers in Japan, Chinese youth are a ‘digging’ society. Those young who are captivated by a sport, a game, a music, an art form lust to know it in it’s entirety. As the initial introduction to these interests may now come easier to the forthcoming generations of young Chinese new, interesting youth lifestyles outside of the Taiwan/HK pop culture mould are set for massive growth.

This article was originally written for and published on the Shanghiist Web Site on Dec. 30, 2009

As the founder and researcher of the youth focused agency enoVate, we must stay abreast of Chinese youth related topics and the array of related articles and “reports” that rely on the same clichés and tried and true information about Chinese youth. Thus, we present to you five Chinese youth clichés we would like to retire in 2010.

1. The Fenqing Chinese Youth have it out for all foreigners!
Supposedly sometime before or after the Olympics, global media deemed that everyone under the age of 25 in China was pissed off about something. In 2009, we witnessed quite the opposite. National pride is still strong amongst Chinese youth, however it’s a calm and peaceful accepting attitude, not an angry, “the world is our enemy” type nationalism. China’s 60 years celebration and Movies such as “Founding of a Republic” made many Chinese youth proud of their country and their government. And, global media’s proclamation of China’s ascension to superpower-dom makes Chinese youth extremely proud, not angry. (Fore more information read: Analysis: The State of the Chinese Youth 60 Years Later)

2. Chinese youth are individuals and self-expressive.Yes, they are. They’re also humans, have lives, have hair, eat food and go online. These characteristics suggest that Chinese youth used to live in caves and paint on walls with finger paint. It’s a barbaric suggestion and one that the global media likes to point to as reference of China’s emerging global status. But the Chinese individual has always been strong and self-expression has existed in China for thousands of years. What IS happening though is the crossover of Chinese youth communities that blend social spheres, making it harder and harder to place Chinese youth into categories (post-80s vs. post 90s, tier 1 vs. tier 2, etc). Chinese youth are becoming exposed to more and more people and ideas, allowing for an expansion in identity and social communities. Whether it’s sharing thoughts and dreams on Yoho.cn’s “Sky” platform, uploading personal fashion shots to voguemate.com, quizzing friends on Kaixin001′s micro-poll feature, or heading offline and going to social events such as “hash-running”, board game bars, flash mobs, and music festivals, Chinese youth are discovering new friends and new interests that break down traditional categorization.

3. Chinese youth only listen to Canto-pop and cheesy love ballads.
Well this statement is partially true, but it ignores the burgeoning independent music scene that reached an apex in 2009. Diverse and eclectic music is being played in both large and small cities throughout China. If 2008 was the year of the Chinese Olympics, then 2009 might have been the year of the Chinese Music Festival. Festivals such as the JZ Music Festival, West Lake Xihu Music Festival, Strawberry Music Festival and the MIDI Music Festival, just to name a few. Pepsi’s Battle of the Bands brought mass attention to Chinese indie rock and PK14 and Carsick Cars are placing Chinese rock music into the global music literati with their USA tour. Canto-pop be damned!

4. The Communist Chinese government hates young entrepreneurs, creativity, and innovation.
The Chinese government does not approve of a lot of things, such as porn, uncensored media, and government disssent. However, the Chinese current political system (call it what you want) does not equate to a lack of entrepreneurial spirit and innovation, particularly amongst Chinese youth. Many young Chinese are realizing that money is to be had on the open market. This had led to an increase in DIY culture amongst creative Chinese youth and also the opening of online Taobao shops where young people can earn enough money to live. It’s our bet that the Chinese government continues providing funding for entrepreneurial and innovative youth education and job creation in the future.

5. Chinese youth are spending more money than their parents.
We have probably read that statement over a zillion times in the past year. We understand that young Chinese people have more money than their parents and are sometimes more willing to spend it. We get it. What this statement does is imply that Chinese youth ONLY care about money and spending it. However, our conversations with Chinese youth indicate that they place higher importance on personal health, wellness, family and friends than having more money to spend. Leading Shanghai environmental consultancy Greennovate is also seeing unprecedented amounts of youth Chinese sign up to volunteer and make an environmental difference in their towns and communities. Yes, Chinese youth have more money and the ability to buy more things than ever before, but this also means they would like to give some back to make a difference locally and globally.

Shanghai electronic collective Antidote, mirrored their hipster image by choosing an offbeat location in small water town Zhu Jia Jiao, for their one day music festival.
However, the prize for most far flung and obtuse location for a music festival goes to newcomer Inmusic. While the musical line up itself follows a similar format to Midi:

• a handful of current Chinese indie/punk favourites (RE-tros, SUBS, etc)
• a smattering of older established Chinese rock heavyweights (Zuoxiaozuzhou)
• a few unknown European bands (Little Dragon, Snake & Jet)
• as well as a DJ tent

Headlining the festival was British trip-hop originator, Tricky, whom one imagines was tempted less by the cash, (tickets ran at 220rmb for the three day event, including bus travel to and from Beijing) and more by  Inmusic’s unique locatiohn: the Northern Chinese grasslands of Zhangbei, over 200km away from Beijing!

As one of the partners of the festival, www.go2eu.com used their community of young travel enthusiasts to offer discounted group travel to the far flung festival. The festival has received mixed reactions. The promise of idyllic green grass and blue sky didn’t transpire as some had imagined but overall people whom attended enjoyed the atmosphere and music, despite some organisational and transport issues.

This type of activity is bound to become more and more popular. The opportunity to meet others, travel together and bond over a mutual interest like music is definitely an appealing opportunity for an adventurous and socially hungry Chinese youth. Our insights have shown that young Chinese are keen to turn online acquaintances into real life friends, and as music festivals increase in number, travel operators and online communities should be keen to work together to cater to the needs of young Chinese.

For more information, photos and footage from the festival please visit:

http://ent.sina.com.cn/f/y/infestival/index.shtm

http://mogo.com.cn