New individualism in China

How are economic and cultural changes shaping the new generations of Chinese consumers?

By Matilde Cini — Researcher at A Piece of Pie

In 2010, Ma Nuo, a contestant on the popular Chinese dating TV show Fei Cheng Wu Rao (If You Are the One) was asked by a suitor if she would “ride a bicycle with him” on a date. She replied: “I would rather cry in a BMW than smile on a bicycle!”. Her answer went viral. The quote became an instant online sensation and a symbol of the unapologetic materialism of Chinese consumers in the first decade of the 21st century.

One decade later, China is set to become the world’s largest economy. While other countries struggle to overcome the Covid crisis, businesses are increasingly looking to China to learn from its robust economic recovery. It’s time companies start watching Chinese consumers closely, if they haven’t already.

So, who are today’s increasingly empowered Chinese consumers, and who will they become in the wake of the global pandemic?

Empowered consumers

A few months ago, I started working on a global consumer research project on behalf of an international luxury automobile company. The ambitious goal of this extraordinary exercise of in-depth qualitative research was to study the evolution of the personal values of luxury consumers around the world.

In our briefing before the beginning of the interviews, Felix, our Chinese fieldwork moderator, told us: “Chinese people are getting richer and richer, so they feel honored. The new Chinese generation has strong honor and confidence.” I expected Chinese consumers to be very much like Ma Nuo, crying in their BMWs.

And we did, indeed, interview many young Chinese who seemed to fit that stereotype perfectly. One example is Hu.

He is 28 years old and lives in Shenzhen, where he runs his family hotel chain. He told us that he is very different from his parents’ generation: his parents have experienced real hardship, and they only care about working and saving money. Hu, on the other hand, still works hard, but is also determined to spend the money he earns.

The older generation, Hu told us, is constantly preparing for the next catastrophe, they don’t have faith in the future. But newer generations do. They are proud of their country’s economic miracle; they know they are better off than their parents and they expect their children to be better off still. They feel entitled to spend their money and increasingly see their spending as a way to express their uniqueness.

“You must enjoy life, buy what you want to buy, do what you want to do. Carpe Diem.” — Hu

Hu, which won’t come as a surprise, drives a BMW.

However, not all our Chinese interviewees were like Hu. Take Lee.

Lee drives a Tesla. He is 32 and lives in Chengdu with his fiancée. He is a 3D designer. He used to work at Tencent but has left to work for a smaller company. He told us about wanting to work less to be able to spend quality time with friends and family. He mentioned film festivals, Chinese indie music and talked about the value of experiences. He talked enthusiastically about Elon Musk and the transformative power of technology.

“I don’t need to copy anyone. I want to follow my own life, my own rhythm. As long as I’m improving myself, I’m happy.” — Lee

We met more Chinese millennials like Lee, who are starting to distance themselves from mindless materialism and embracing a different kind of individualism. They want to express their uniqueness, not only through products, but also through experiences and by having an impact on the world.

Individualism, national pride and new collectivist values

The dating show Fei Cheng Wu Rao was the hottest Chinese TV show in the 2010s. Today, one of its most successful successors is the hit talk show Qi Pa Shuo (also known as “U Can U Bibi”). Targeted to post-1980s and 1990s young adults, the show is broadcast on TV and online and the issues discussed are selected from online Chinese Q&A Quora-style forums. The topics include questions such as: “Should you have a stable career by 30 or should you chase your dreams?” — “Could I be a single mother?” — “A job I like requires me to work ‘996’: should I quit?” (996 refers to the widespread practice of working 9:00 to 21:00 for 6 days a week in white collar jobs).

These questions, just like Hu’s and Lee’s words, express values that resonate with our Western understanding of individualism: self-development, the right to individual happiness and self-expression. We could wrongly deduce that Chinese consumers are slowly embracing Western values and will gradually resemble Western consumers. That would be a simplistic and reductive conclusion. We must remember that in Asian countries with collectivist traditions, most people view Western obsession with individual expression as extravagant and limiting. Many Chinese feel that giving too much importance to the quest for individual uniqueness is a hindrance to personal freedom. Personal identity, and the products consumers purchase in order to express it, is still very much related to the place a person holds in society.

Moreover, new Chinese individualism is also merging with a new kind of national pride. Younger Chinese are proud of their country’s economic success and of its handling of the Covid-19 crisis. They are increasingly proud of their culture and expect foreign brands to understand its complexities and avoid simplistic cultural adaptations (let’s learn from Gucci and Balenciaga’s mistakes). Chinese brands are still not preferred to foreign ones but are gaining momentum.

This blend of individualism, nationalism and collectivism is captured by a recent Economist article about Chinese Gen-Z’ers. They look like a strange blend of Berlin hipsters and Extinction rebellion teenage activists: going vegan and sewing reusable fabric masks for their personal use. The article suggests that their pride in their individual voice will be channeled towards collectivist values beyond those represented by Chinese identity and government authority. They will express social responsibility by caring about the planet and civil rights, rather than national unity.

What does it mean for Western brands?

• Western brands will continue to thrive in the near term
  Chinese consumers still drive BMWs, and a growing number of Chinese middle-class consumers will be willing to drive them for a while, whether smiling or crying. Western luxury brands will keep thriving in the Chinese market in the foreseeable future.
• Younger Chinese are increasingly finding value in their own culture
  China’s consumers are coming of age. Younger 2nd and 3rd generation wealthy Chinese consumers are starting to distance themselves from mindless consumerism and ostentation of status. China is growing increasingly confident in its own tradition and its own ability to shape the future. Chinese consumers might soon develop greater sophistication and Western brands might have to take into account Chinese rivals trying to graduate from niche to mainstream.
• Adapt to how business is done in China, or lose them
  Chinese consumers believe in growth and are optimistic about the future. They are highly digitalized and associate growth and success with technology. They expect brands to keep up with the digital transformation of the marketplace pioneered by China.
• Talk to Chinese consumers regularly to align
  To stay in the race, Western brands will want to follow younger Chinese consumers closely and keep up with their new values and patterns of consumption. Understanding the complexity of the emerging Chinese individualism may determine which brands thrive in the post-Covid global scene. Talk to them, understand them, and deliver on their perceptions and expectations to succeed.

Looking for deeper insights?

At A Piece of Pie, we help our clients understand their customers’ deep motivations and how to establish meaningful connections with them.

If you want to take a real people-centric approach to engage with your customers and to ensure that thinking is put into action successfully, get in touch with us at info@piecepie.com.