Analysis : The State of the Chinese Youth 60 Years Later

“The National Day Parade is being held in Shanghai, right?”

“Are you even Chinese!?”

One of the six identical looking red calico haired hairdressers from Anhui Province shot back at another as they all broke up into laughter. He bowed his head in pretend shame, smiling to himself.

“It’s in Beijing!”

We continued chatting with this small group in the middle of People’s Square, directly in front of the Shanghai Municipal Government building. Flags flew back and forth, whipping the wind and old Chinese women walked around selling Chinese flags to little children. It’s been little over a year since the world had its attention on China and much of the Olympic glare has subsided. As the global financial crisis ebbs, many multi-national companies are increasing their budgets, and looking once again to spend on marketing, product innovation and retail expansion–their sights are of course on China and its coveted youth market.

But as the world focuses again on China during the 60th Anniversary celebration, what has changed?

This group of hairdressers is a typical representation of Chinese youth, a year past the Olympic apex. Opportunities are held at the tip of their own fingertips; national pride is expressed with laughter and swagger, and their individualism is expressed for all of China to see.

The opportunity to succeed
All born in 1988 and members of China’s “80’s Generation”, the hairdressers upward mobility literally relies on the successful snips of their scissors. They have just arrived in Shanghai from a small town in Anhui Province (ironically from the same town as now Chinese President, Hu Jintao, a similar symbol of opportunity and success) to learn the tools of the hairdresser trade.

This is indicative of a larger national Chinese youth trend: capitalizing on personal opportunities. As jobs become scarce for college graduates, and more and more youth are turning to large cities for opportunities, this creates an “I’ll do anything” type of attitude. Some become hairdressers, some turn to Taobao, others continue their education abroad all in efforts to gain entrepreneurial knowledge key to China’s future. But there is a challenge to this passion, and companies need to be aware of “too much entrepreneurism.” As Xiang Bing, dean of the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing states:

“Entrepreneurialism is in our blood, and that makes us open to new ideas and new people. But it means we can also be impatient, and without focus. In Chinese companies, middle managers are always trying to figure out how they can ultimately take over the company, or start their own company.”

Companies and brands should target this passion and vigor but also seek to take care of employees and reward brand evangelists perhaps following the lead of ex-Google president Kai-Fu Lee. Lee has since founded an innovation incubator, Innovation Works, that helps start-up companies and other entrepreneurs make ideas come to life. Young Chinese entrepreneurs can look to this and other innovation centers as a way to harness their new found opportunism.

National Chinese swagger
As Chinese youth take advantage of the opportunities provided to them, they no longer express anger at the world’s criticisms of China. The much-ballyhooed “Angry Chinese Youth” remains firmly a sort of “Said-ism” and a generalization of Chinese youth. Instead, as our recent primary research indicates, pride in China’s reinstated “wei wu” (威武), or “power” brings passion to the smiling lips of Chinese youth.

“I’m proud of our military, I’m proud that we can now show the world our strength.”

A young man expressed this to us when we asked him to describe his views towards the October 1st Anniversary celebration. China’s almost flawless execution of the Olympics and weathering of the global economic storm has provided China global bragging rights and a renewed sense of national pride. National pride that is both joyous and rewarding, not of anger and resentment. Foreign brands do not need to fear this passion or pride but instead embrace it like Pepsi has over the past few months in their 60th anniversary marketing campaign.

Individual Chinese confidence
“I’m a Chinese girl and I can be fashionable.” Yoyo, a 21-year-old Shanghainese girl responded when asked of which aspect about China she is most proud. The notion that these two aspects could co-exist is unfathomable to many outside of China. But from living and working amongst this age group, this rising confidence both compared to their peers and to global counter-parts is more evident than ever.

Confidence and individualism go hand in hand these days in China. Individuality is a buzzword that often gets thrown about when discussing Chinese youth, but as China’s National Day arrives; it begins to take on larger global implications. Chinese youth today are graphic designers, entrepreneurs, musicians, skateboarders, fashion designers, and even environmentalists. They are proud (not angry) of China and it’s rise in global significance, and most importantly they are confident to express their individualism both online and offline.

In our own targeting of these passionate and confident youth, both for our clients and our own research, we find that if you engage and listen to their opinions, you can learn a lot about their perspective on your own brand and industry. Engaged correctly, you find yourself with a wealth of knowledge about youth perspectives on your industry and also a new champion for your brand or product. Obviously with passion and confidence comes opinions good and bad but embrace those and engage the youth in the process. Just the other day, we were talking with a large global FMCG brand who was looking to crowd source packaging concepts for a new product they are bringing into the market. This is a great example of engaging your consumer to drive localized value.

As modern China turns sixty on October 1st, China’s youth will be watching parades, fireworks, military men, military women, and government functions, all celebrating China’s anniversary. And no one around the world can question if these Chinese youth are pushing China into a new era of expression, confidence, and determination.

We look forward to your own comments during this holiday celebration.

John Solomon is the co-founder and director of enoVate. In addition to posts throughout the week on various topics, John synthesizes the data and analysis developed by the enoVate Insights and Strategy Team and provides readers with the key trends and future indicators for brands, agencies, and investor to be aware of within the youth market. For our full brief on the topic, please do not hesitate to contact us. This week, enoVate Research Analyst Joey Dembs, contributed to this piece as well.