:: for those that don’t know, TaoBao.com is the eBay of China. As with eBay, it’s chock full of listings of more of the same. Sometimes though, something shines through the dross and catches your eye.
An indie design “shop” in Beijing called I Hate You, has done some wonderful work in making their products interesting.
For each product, they do full-on DIY advertisements and actually write some decent copy. The result is much more compelling than the typical, stale product shots on sellers’ coffee tables. I’ve gone ahead and shared some of the ads below. Check out I Hate You’s Taobao shop here. Bravo, well done. // XD
:: I have always been a fan of parkour and free-running, so I was thrilled to (literally) crash into a group of local teenagers / 20-somethings yesterday parkour’ing near People’s Square in Shanghai – it was great. I tried stopping one of them to find out more information, etc. but all of them were too busy jumping over stuff to talk to me…fair enough.
Also, see below for a series of superb parkour videos from practically every corner of China. I have to admit, I was entirely unaware of the depth and breadth of parkour culture in China – it’s exciting to see how Chinese youth have taken to it. From what I gather, it’s only been around in China for a few years. Either way, very cool. Oh, and get this, parkour is translated in Chinese as 跑酷 (pao2 ku4), how great is that?! It’s perhaps my new favorite word.
Lastly, the marketer in me notices that there is zero brand presence (maybe that’s a good thing?) in any of this content; seems like a massively missed opportunity to connect with an edgy, emerging (i.e. trendsetting and influential) subculture in China. // AjS
in Xinjiang…
in Beijing…
in Hunan (inside a dorm room at the Hunan Industrial University), H/T to Youku Buzz…
in Xian…
in Shanxi (maybe also Xian)…
in Nanjing…
in Chengdu…
not sure where, looks to be in Western China and appears to be a soldier or police officer of some sort…
