From Lolitas to Confucianism: From Shamate to Chinese gamblers

Extreme fashion styles, excessive online gaming and illegal gambling practices. These are all examples of the subcultures and social practices that have evolved on the Asian continent during the last couple of decades. In the following, we look at how these phenomenons are practiced and how they can be seen as a reaction to the modern Asian political and social circumstances.

Mana, guitarist in Malice Mizer

Japanese youths utilizing fashion as an expression for social resistance or escapism is not a new phenomenon. Music genres such as Visual Kei and J-rock dates back to the 1980’s when Japanese musicians were influenced by glam rock, punk and heavy metal bands from Europe and America. The extreme appearances; heavy make up and eye-catching hair styles were quite the opposite to the strict and conservative fashion and lifestyle dominating post-industrial japanese society. Thus Visual Kei and J-rock has paved the way for fashion styles such as gothic lolita (a major band that has influenced the scene considerably is Malice Mizer, with the male guitarist Mana dressing like a gothic lolita girl, thus also challenging gender norms).

Today, japanese subculture such as Lolita and Cosplay has not only spread to western societies, but to other Asian countries as well. A large subcultural “family” commonly referred to as Shamate (杀马特) - which is a mandarin transliteration of the English word “smart”- has emerged in the big cities of China. Shamate are influenced by visual kei and japanese “street fashion” but also goth, glam, punk and emo in their way of dress. They consist mainly of young migrant workers or children of migrant workers, whose social status is characterized by a collective alienation in the urban spheres of contemporary China.

Baidu Baike, China’s Wikipedia, describes a shamate as a young urban migrant from one of the tens of thousands of podunk towns scattered across China. They are usually in their late teens or early 20s, often with middle-school educations and few marketable skills, working low-paying jobs in the big cities, like a barber, security guard, deliveryman, or waitress.

Two Shamate boys in Chinese city

As conformity is expected and education highly valued in mainstream Chinese society, Shamate is a subculture which is widely looked down upon, which leads to even more alienation for this already marginalized group. Shamate often become subjected to mockery in Chinese social media, and people view them as drop-outs and failed arrivistes in big cities, with distinguishable farmland accents in their speech.

Nonetheless do Shamate organize themselves in online social forums, sometimes by creating groups, or “families” with up to several thousands individuals who all identify themselves as Shamate. These groups can be highly organized with hierarchical structures, with some “veteran” members even given titles such as “CEO” or “technology director”.

These subcultures can be seen as being an “organized” way to create a sense of belonging and meaning for individuals that do not have the means in the form of social and economic capital that will enable them to exit an underpriviliged position in society. Joining a subculture may be a way of dealing with the feelings of alienation that may arise in a China of fast economic change where the growing middle class can distinguish themselves from Shamate by consuming “good taste”, as for the xiaoqingxing (小清新) (China’s version of hipsters).

Japanese Lolitas

As mentioned, one of the most popular, and arguably well known, subcultures in Japan is Lolita. Lolita is described as a “fantasy child-inspired dress-up fashion”, and refers to “the practice of adult women dressing in excessively frilly, doll/princess/maiden-inspired clothing” (Younker). This subculture represents another aspect of escaping traditional norms, in

particular young women trying to break out of their pre-ascribed gendered roles in Japanese society. This practice of changing one’s appearance can be seen as a rebellion, and is often looked down upon by the older generation. Looking at Lolita through the lens of feminism, it can at first be seen as a contradiction in terms; the almost sickly sweet frills, and almost childlike, vulnerable makeup seems to go against the stereotypical views of feminism. However, it has been suggested that this subculture can be seen as “surprisingly subversive”, as it is goes against the traditional Japanese values, that went unchallenged during the colonial period. It must be noted, however, according to feministlolita.tumblr.com, a lot of women within the subculture do not actually use Lolita for this purpose, rather it is those outside the culture that put the emphasis upon feminism. Those within the subculture use the style to find their own identity, and use it to escape reality. Many people within the culture do not “join” until they have left school; until then, they attend school and live with their parents, who do not approve of this “alternative” fashion.

Another aspect of this that can be seen through the lens of post-colonialism – now, the Japanese fashions (emerging from these subcultures), is beginning to permeate much of Western society, with Lolita and Cosplay becoming increasingly popular.

Also in South Korea exists the need for escaping the constrictions of reality and the pressure of conformity. In the trains in Seoul pretty much every single person, young and old, male and female, is playing a game on their smartphone. Checking e-mail or Facebook is a waste of precious gaming-time:

Gaming in Seoul

Today, the 10^th of November, CphDox shows the South Korean documentary “Love Child” which tells the almost unbelievable tale of a couple who neglected their real-life baby in order to raise a cyber-baby. The couple was addicted to gaming - ironically the game they played was about raising a virtual child while their own 3-month-old was starving to death. Of course, this is an extreme case. Still, in 2014 more than half of South Korea’s 50 million people play online games regularly. South Korea is a place where professional gamers earn six-figure contracts, date supermodels, and are treated as A-list celebrities. Cyber competitions are nationally televised and they fill-up stadiums. In this country, gaming is not just a hobby; it’s a way of life.

According to South Korea’s government, 1 in 10 Korean adolescents are at high risk for internet addiction and 1 in 20 is already considered seriously addicted. Every year, hundreds to thousands of people get hospitalized and several die due to excessive gaming when they don’t eat or sleep. The South Korean government has responded to juvenile web addiction by spending millions of dollars on counselling centres and awareness classes for children. But where the addiction numbers of adolescents have gone down, the 20 to 30-year-olds get more addicted still, especially the unemployed and university students.

South Korean school children were the least happy among those in OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, a recent survey showed. In the latest survey, the subjective happiness index of South Korean children was 60.3 percent, which was the lowest among the OECD countries. Some of the major reasons behind the statistics include lack of leisure time and hobbies, as well as stress over academic obligations. Meanwhile, children in the Netherlands were the happiest with 94.2 percent.

Dr. Kim Tae-hoon, a psychiatrist who treats teenagers, says: “’Internet addiction’ may not be recognized as a medical condition or psychiatric disorder, but it often serves as a symptom of more serious underlying mental disorders such as attention deficit disorder and depression (…) In South Korea it's easier for citizens to play online games than to invest in their offline personal relations through face-to-face conversations (…) People are becoming growingly numb to human interaction."

Gamblers in rural China

Where in South Korea gaming might be used as a tool for dealing with an extreme social pressure, the Chinese use gambling for similar purposes. In rural China, as seen in the province of Eastern Hubei Province by anthropologist Hans Steinmüller, illegal gambling has been steadily rising in popularity among young laborers, since the 1980’s. It is especially the card game called Zha jinhua, a Chinese equivalent to poker, which gathers people’s attention – and the bets are large, sometimes more than a week’s earnings.

This is yet another example of common people dealing with the frustrations from their participation in a system that causes huge economical gaps in the Chinese society. An urban wage is three times higher than a rural one on average, which is the cause of large inequalities. When the young laborers engage in gambling, it creates a lively and warm atmosphere, in the otherwise boring and dull countryside, due to what they themselves recognize as ‘wan’ (entertainment).

These practices are seen as a backward peasant activity by the Chinese state, leading to the condemnation of these forms of gambling, which are essential to the sociality of laborers. Even people who are trying to distance themselves from peasantry are engaging in gambling practices. Steinmüller is suggesting that the gambling practices could be a reflection of the frustrations and desires of the ‘millennial capitalism’. The proliferating gambling trend can thus be seen as a change in the subjectivities of the people of China in this contemporary post-socialist setting.

As seen in the above, different valves for relieving social pressure and expectations are in play across asia, whether it's through Chinese and Japanese fashion subcultures, South Korean gaming activities, or Chinese gambling practices.

By: Mathias, Lisette, Fionnuala & Mimmi

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