Faces of China: Chengdu Youth

I think it's useful to put a face to the many stories you may hear about "youth" in China.  Here are just a few from Chengdu, Sichuan that I saw at the large and central Tianfu Square and at a nearby popular shopping street.

I can't resist pointing out that in several of the photos you'll see people holding their mobile phones.  As I've mentioned before (such as here), it is not uncommon for Chinese to have their mobile "out", even when they're not using them.

However, I think the photos express something much deeper.  In conducting my research and explorations across China, I am continually amazed by both the commonalities and uniqueness of the various youth I meet  -- whether it is in how they use the Internet, what they think about their government, or how they express themselves.  I think these photos help capture some of that.

Look at the fashion.  Look at the body language.  Look at the expressions.

In some cases you may immediately think of "stories" for the photos below.  Some of what you're thinking may be accurate.  Some of what you're thinking likely more reflects your own biases and assumptions.

Regardless, looking can help inspire questions you may not have thought to ask otherwise.

The answers to those questions won't just tell you more about other people, but yourself as well.

Friend visiting another from afar

College student with her photography tutor

Irresistible photo opportunity 

Snack time

Matching

Taking a break to chat

Bridge Signs in Chengdu, China: What Do They Mean?

In previous posts I've written about the challenges of creating meaningful signs and how signs may be ignored even when they're clear.

To follow up on those themes and to do an informal experiment, take a look at some scenes from this bridge over a busy street in Chengdu:

There were stairs going up to it:

And also a ramp with a prominently displayed sign:

The other side of the bridge had stairs and a curved ramp:

And the bottom of the ramp had the same sign:

As you can see in the above photos of the ramps and this one:

There are speed bumps.

So... When you first saw the sign what did you think it meant?  What is the intended use of the ramps?  Did your impression change after seeing additional photos?

Email me your answers/guesses/thoughts (isidorsfugue@gmail.com).  I'll later post some of the replies.  I'll assume you want to remain anonymous unless you state otherwise.  It would be helpful, though, to know if you're from China or if you have experience with such signs.

By the way, there is a small detail in one of the photos above that may provide you a hint as to the intended meaning of the sign.  Bonus points for catching it.

P.S.  Coincidentally, James Fallows also has a new post here about signs in China.

[Added note:  I suggested contacting me via e-mail just so people are less likely to be influenced by others' ideas.  You can also reply through the comment section.  However, I won't publish them until I do the follow-up post.]

UPDATE:  Follow-up post with readers' thoughts, a few additional photos, and the "answer" is here: http://www.isidorsfugue.com/2011/06/seeing-signs.html

Impact of China's Growing Mobile Phone Industry

An article by Greg Lindsay on Fast Company (see here) argues that the increasing penetration of mobile phones designed in China into other countries has had a wide range of impact, including aiding the recent revolutions in the Middle East.

While the Middle East claim is intriguing, I'd like to see more evidence.  For example, it would be helpful to know the penetration of Chinese-designed phones in Egypt and what the consumers would have done had the phones not been available.  Regardless, in making his case Lindsay raises several issues related to some earlier posts here.

He discusses how the making of mobile phones in China became far more practical due to the availability of a cheap way to design them:

"In 2004, a Taiwanese electronics firm named MediaTek unveiled its latest product--a cell-phone-in-a-box aimed at manufacturers, equipped with everything they needed to make the guts of a working phone on one chipset. Write some software, add features, and snap a plastic case on the front and you've produced a new model. It was an immediate hit with China’s notorious counterfeiters, the shanzhai.

In 2004, MediaTek sold 3 million of its chips; six years later, its sales had soared to 500 million, more than a third of the worldwide market. Nearly half of those went to shanzhai. The sudden ability to design, manufacture, and ship millions of dirt-cheap handsets in total secrecy led to an explosion in Internet-enabled devices in China. “Five years ago, there were no counterfeit phones,” the sales manager at a Chinese component manufacturer told The New York Times in 2009. “You needed a design house. You needed software guys. You needed hardware design. But now, a company with five guys can do it.”"

I believe that the increased numbers of people making mobile phones in China relates to another issue I've raised here and here -- that while copying remains relatively common in China, innovation is also occurring.  Relevant to this point, Lindsay writes:

"The key to the cheap phones was the combination of MediaTek’s chipsets and the vast component bazaars of Shenzhen. While MediaTek’s engineers focused on adding software features such as touchscreen recognition and instant messaging to their chips, shanzhaitricked out basic models with speakers, telescopic photo lenses, and flashlight-strength LEDs. Before long, “Nckias” and “Blockberrys” began appearing across Shenzhen and Shanghai.

With their tiny production runs, shanzhai could manufacture a thousand phones, seed the local markets, see if they caught on, and then crank out some more. Established players like Nokia were soon crying foul, even as they scrambled to keep up. Development cycles collapsed from 9 to 12 months to as little as three months. Instead of knockoffs, the counterfeiters were churning out innovation and forcing large companies to play catch up."

Lindsay also points out that the cheap Chinese-brand mobile phone manufactures are expanding their sales to regions where such phones may be strongly desired, such as India:

"India, with its low PC penetration, high fixed-broadband costs, and proximity to China, was a natural fit. In 2009, shanzhai phones began flooding the market, offering “good functionality at a fraction of the cost of established brands,” according to BCG."

As shared in a reader's comments here not only may Chinese-brand mobile be appealing in other countries for their lower cost, but also for the functionality they may offer, such as dual SIM card support.

Finally, in his article Lindsay refers to the Chinese phones as "shanzhai" -- a term usually reserved for mobile phones made in China that copy established brands.  In part due to the innovation that Lindsay himself notes and that there are Chinese brands of mobile phones that appear to be making an effort to distinguish themselves from better known brands, I don't think the term is always appropriate when discussing mobile phones designed in China.  Scroll though the many photos included here (all of my posts on mobile phones) and see what you think based just on looking at the many examples of Chinese designed phones.  Should Oppo and BBK really be classified with Nckia and Blockberry?  There's of course more to this than looking at a few photos, but I think they help make a point.

I'm not sure how Lindsay was using the term but in general the way the term "shanzhai" is sometimes used can gloss over some very key distinctions about mobile phones designed in China.  More on this topic later.  For now, I'll just add that when you see the term "shanzhai" you may want to consider how the word is being used.

Dairy Queen and the Goji Berry in China

Previously, I commented on Dairy Queen localizing it's menu in Kunming, Yunnan with some options including mango (see here).  I also included this photo:

DQ menu with mango smoothie/slushy options

However, recently in Chengdu, Sichuan I saw a DQ with a slightly different menu:

DQ menu with goji berry smoothie/slushy options

I had never tried a goji berry, also know as wolfberry, drink and hadn't seen it in the Kunming DQ stores so I tried the goji berry crushed ice drink.  The sacrifices I make for research...

DQ goji berry "slushy"

As you may note, the color of the drink is a bit different from that shown on the sign.  In fact, it almost looked mango-colored.  However, the taste was definitely not mango-ish.  It was, dare I say, wolfberry-ish.  I think.

I can't say whether the goji berry being featured instead of mango is indicative of a general shift in menu options in DQ across China, a new potential option being tested in a specific market, an attempt to localize the DQ menu to specific regions of China, or something else.

I'll keep an eye out on DQ's elsewhere to see if any patterns become apparent (I may limit my sampling of DQ products, though).  If any readers are aware of other differences in DQ's in other regions of China I'd be curious to hear about it.

UPDATE:  After some more "research" I've discovered that the goji berry option definitely isn't only limited to Chengdu.  Also, at least in other locations now featuring goji berry, the mango option remains, just no longer featured.

Mobile Phones in China: Chengdu's Mobile Phone Street

In two earlier posts here and here I shared some examples of mobile phones available in Zhaotong, Yunnan and Zigong, Sichuan.  To further emphasize the immense variety of mobile phones available in China I'll now share some examples from the much larger city of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province and a key economic center of Southwest China.

While mobile phones are sold in many locations around Chengdu, I'll focus on the area including Tidu Street and Taisheng South Road in the downtown district as it is known for its large number of mobile phone stores.

Several larger stores, such as this one:

Xunjie Communication City

sell a variety of brands and do not sell any obvious fakes, knockoffs, etc.

Two salespeople in the mobile phone store

The selection at Xunjie included several of the Chinese brands I've mentioned before

The U Like Oppo phone

and also foreign brands such a Nokia and iPhone.  In fact, it was at Xunjie that I noticed the BlackBerry's and the promotion including Barack Obama I wrote about earlier (see here).

There were also many stores in the area that sold a particular brand of phone.  Here are a few of them:

LG store

Meizu store

Nokia store

Samsung store

A little about Meizu since it may be particularly unfamiliar to those outside of China...  It's a Chinese brand and its earlier M8 mobile phone ran on a version of Microsoft Windows CE 6 while its newer M9 version is based on Android.  Production of the M8 was shut down due to an intellectual property dispute raised by Apple (more here).  If you look at Meizu's web site for the M8 here you may find yourself sympathizing with Apple.

In addition to the larger stores and the brand specific stores, there were also many smaller stores along the street.

Many smaller mobile phone stores

It's at places such as these that one can often find the most variety.  Take a look:

Any favorites?

Just looking at the visual design alone makes it apparent that there are phones potentially appealing to a wide range of tastes.

As in the selection seen at the smaller stores in Zhaotong there are a number of phones that seem to have trademark infringement issues.  Examples in the above photos include Scny Ecirsscn (Sony Ericsson), Anycoll (Anycall), TPhone (iPhone), iPhome (iPhone), etc.  It is also questionable whether the Hello Kitty and Winnie the Pooh phones have been properly licensed.

In contrast to Zhaotong, there are some smaller stores selling genuine (I think...) high end smart phones, including those running Windows Mobile 7 and Android.

So, to sum it all up briefly: Chengdu is similar to Zhaotong and Zigong in terms of having a wide range of mobile phones.  However, Chengdu appears to offer much more in terms of higher end smart phones.

That's all for now -- just some more perspective & color on the variety of mobile phones sold in China.

Traveling

The past several days have included quite a bit of traveling and I haven't been able to post anything lately.  Taxi, plane, bus, subway, and of course:

Ferry arriving at a port in Qingdao, Shandong province

Much more coming soon.

Chinese Menu Innovation

It isn't uncommon in China for restaurants to have a very large number of dishes available in their menu.  When pictures are included this can mean the menu will also have a large number of pages.

Additionally, typically in China one person will order all of the dishes, which are shared, for the whole table.

So...

Keeping track of all the dishes you may want to order can be problematic.  One way to deal with this is to simply pick dishes as you page through the menu.  In China, waitresses and waiters will usually stand at the table waiting while you decide what to order.

But maybe you want to decide on the full selection before announcing any choices.  In such cases I've found myself using my fingers to keep track of the pages with the most delicious looking items so I don't have to page through the whole menu again.  However, if ordering for many people I may quickly run out of fingers.

In Chengdu, Sichuan province I ate at this vegetarian restaurant:

Lotus on the Water -- a vegetarian restaurant in Chengdu

They had a rather extensive menu, but they also provided something else when they brought it to the table:

Colored clips and fake-meat dishes in the menu

The small clips were a simple and very useful method for remembering your selections.  It also helped to ensure that your order was properly communicated.  Sometimes low-tech innovation is all you need.

And here's more proof that it worked:

Spicy vegetarian beef and tea tree mushrooms

BlackBerry and Obama in China

After seeing some of the variety of mobile phones I've shared (see here and here) a reader and self-admitted BlackBerry fan, Pete, asked about BlackBerry's presence in China.

Recently, I saw BlackBerry's for sale at a large mobile phone store in Chengdu, Sichuan.

BlackBerry mobile phones for sale in Chengdu

Although it was just one small display amongst many others, it caught my eye since I hadn't seen BlackBerry's for sale in other cities I've recently featured, including Zhaotong and Zigong.  I can't provide any statistics but it's been very uncommon for me to see anyone using a BlackBerry (or other higher end phones, such as iPhone) in similar cities -- whether in my formal research (which I should note has focused on Chinese youth) or what I've seen being used in public.

The appearance of some Blackberry's in Chengdu is likely due to it being a relatively prosperous city, especially for Southwest China.

What most caught my attention, though, was how the phones were being promoted.  On the left side was this set of photos:

You may recognize a couple of the photos, including Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.  Neither of them are too surprising given the NBA's popularity in China.  Kobe certainly has many ardent fans here and has been part of a number of marketing campaigns, including those for Nike.  That BlackBerry is using sports figures in its promotions may suggest something about how they are trying to position their products.

Regardless, on the right side were a few photos that you may find more intriguing.

Yes, that is Barack Obama giving a speech in one photo and apparently using a BlackBerry in another.  The views many Chinese have of Obama are likely more complex than those they may have of Kobe.  What is most important to note, though, is that it is very conceivable that the use of Obama's image would benefit BlackBerry's aims in China.

This isn't the first time for Obama (or a lookalike) to make an appearance in ads in China.

For example, I saw this ad in a shopping center in Shijiazhuang, Hebei.  Maybe it's not intended to be Obama but... well, you decide.

Look like Obama to you?

There was also an advertisement by KFC that involved Obama.  Although, apparently it only played in Hong Kong -- a market distinct in many ways from Mainland China.

For more about Obama in Chinese advertisements, including one not for BlackBerry, but BlockBerry, see here.

Now, let's do a thought experiment.

Would it be effective for BlackBerry's US sales to promote its products using this man?

Hu Jintao (source)

Would most Americans even recognize this photo as Hu Jintao and/or know that he is China's current leader?

If they did, would knowing he used a BlackBerry in any way impact their likelihood of buying a BlackBerry?  For the positive?

Even if Hu Jintao regularly used a BlackBerry I don't think his image will be appearing in any marketing campaigns in the US.  If BlackBerry decided otherwise, they may face the same fate as a failed PR campaign by China in the US half a year ago (see here).  Part of the problem was that the ads highlighted many "famous" Chinese who were complete unknowns in the US.

The familiarity Chinese have with a number of US figures and how they view such people is not a trivial issue and a sign of the United States' soft power in China.  The very different state of China's soft power in the US is very striking.  In a later post, I will discuss more about how this soft power may impact Chinese in the future, particularly in which online services they use.

Dragon Boat Festival in Chengdu

Yesterday was the Duanwu Festival, known to many as the Dragon Boat Festival.  In China it was marked by a 3 day holiday weekend.

I enjoyed the day off in Chengdu, Sichuan and celebrated the holiday in part by visiting the historic Qingyang Temple and two parks -- the Culture Park and Baihuatan Park.  Here are some scenes of the temple and of how some people spent their day at the parks:

The Eight Trigrams Pavilion

Candles burning

Chinese calligraphy

Many like to rub the goat for good luck.

Laundry drying

A bit more fearsome

The ba gua symbol used to represent the Tao and its pursuit

Tea and mahjong are an integral part of life in Sichuan province

Kids enjoying a ride at the park

More tea and mahjong

The closest thing I saw to dragon boats that day

Just relaxing

No day is complete without a butterfly fairy