Oct 6, 2010 | Sports, Youth
I attended the Baby Dragon Skateboarding Competition finals in Hangzhou last weekend. Sponsored by the government and major international clothing brands, the national contest sought to raise awareness for the sport and develop better skills amongst China’s practitioners. Han Minjie, often considered the godfather of China’s skateboarding community, estimates that there are only 40,000 to 50,000 active skateboarders in China. Still, urban street culture is on the rise and considerably more rebellious youth are looking to skateboarding and the tight-knit circle of friends the sport engenders as a social outlet. Lots of pundits also tie the rise of skateboarding to hip hop which continues to be a burgeoning musical form in China. The biggest development for skateboarding in Beijing, however, was the opening of the Woodward skate park on the outskirts of Beijing this summer. Although its facilities are top notch, it still remains to be scene if it will work economically. Some skateboarding insiders in Beijing feel that the money would have been better spent building smaller skate parks closer to the city center. Be sure to check out KickerClub, Skatehere and Funboxx for more information on skateboarding in China. The skateboarders pictured above were Baby Dragon Skateboarding Competition finalists while the three below were female skateboarders participating in the open sessions that also take place during the contest.
May 16, 2010 | Music, Portraits
Two of my favorite rocker outfits are now working out of Shanghai. Duck Fight Goose, led by Miniless Records founder Han Han, and Booji are playing amazing concerts of their self-styled Death Ray Rock. Let it be known: Duck Fight Goose and Booji are officially killing it. Check out Dan Shapiro’s post on CNNGo for more information and other interesting facts.
May 5, 2010 | Music, Portraits, Youth
What could be naively described as a hipster transformation is taking place in Beijing. Although some may only dress the part, others are the first in China to truly embrace alternative lifestyles that fly in the face of social conformity so desperately imposed by the Chinese state. Whether shopping at second-hand clothing stores, scouring the Internet for fringe media, pursuing careers in the arts and generally rejecting the popular molds of their communist past, these youth are seeking to stand out from the masses. This increasing tendency toward individualism coupled with newfound online forums for self-expression is one the cornerstones of China’s emerging civil society and often comes with a social stigma that is hard to imagine outside of China. Many don’t wish to participate in a largely vacuous and unsustainable consumer culture taking hold of the country. While they might not brazenly attack the government, their embracement of such a lifestyle is a powerful statement in and of itself. The biggest congregations now occur at major music festivals sprouting up all over the country. All of these portraits were taken at the 2010 MIDI Music Festival.
