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The “”After 80s”” and the “”After 90s”” Generation of China In December” we reported on China’s “After ’80’s” marketplace in “China Youth Culture’s “After ’80’s” Market Dictating Blogging, Spending, Fashion Trends.” However there’s a younger generation called “After ’90’s” that is clearly moving into the limelight as the growing middle class of young people continues to emerge.

As reported by Label Networks’ China manager, Magdalene Koh, there are important distinctions between the After ’80’s marketplace and After ’90’s.

The ’80’s are mostly single children of the family; wholly and solely receiving all the love and attention. They were swamped by the waves of the new changes in China market, i.e. improvement of environment, upgrading of living standard and with a more open path in receiving latest updated information from media or internet. The results are a massive generation gap in lifestyle traits, spending patterns, fashion, and of course technology. In addition, this generation has been introduced to credit cards and as we’ve seen in the last 3 China Youth Culture Studies, continues to perpetuate the growth of online sales in fashion, electronics, sneaker culture, and accessories.

The “After 80s” kids are very into new ideas, blogging, being online as a social activity, and showing that life is good. Their lifestyle reflects more a free-form attitude that they are happy and lucky to be born when they were.

All the above causes plus the influences from media and advertisement, has made the “After 80s” group develop a very strong concept on enjoying a good lifestyle. Thus they tend to be attracted to luxurious goods and are very brand conscious. They own things like computers, MP3, digital cameras, and other digital products, which are common belongings and they take pleasure in entertainment and traveling. In order to cater to such needs, various companies and banks have specially designed series of products and personality credit cards.

In contrast”, the “After ’90s” generation likes to show off their wealth. This is obviously a younger generation, but equally as compelling. This website very significantly shows how a kid of the ’90s is like:

http://news.qq.com/a/20071112/000185.htm. The ’90s kids very typically are selfish and care for themselves more. The pictures show a girl of the ’90s who is showing off her wealth and being critical about the people who cannot afford to spend money. They are the lucky ones who are born in a more wealthy time of China. From earlier on since last October, a kid was named the “Money Burning Guy” because he uploaded a series of photos showing him burning money notes. Another incident was about the “Accord Girl, a girl of the ’90s used her Accord car to knock down someone else’s QQ because she was not fast enough. Now comes the “Showy Girl of the ’90s, they all reflect the same problem. The ’90s love to show off what they have physically.

Overall, as more young people in the After ’80s and After ’90’s groups become the new leaders of consumerism and communication often through blogs, social networks, and social exchanges through multi-player games, this is changing the face of China. As predications indicate, China will have more people online than America within a few monthswhich is particularly the case with the After ‘8’s and After ’90s generations. What this means for global youth culture is that China will continue to play a larger role in future trends and knowing what’s going on there indicates how things may change in other parts of Asia and the world at large.

Stay tuned for more from Label Networks China Youth Culture Study 2008, including data on top fashion trends, technology, sports influences and the Olympics, and more. For access to China Youth Culture Studies 2007, 2006, email info@labelnetworks.com; (323) 630-4000.