Homegrown Products Have Made Their Mark on the Chinese Mainland in the Past Decade, and Are No Longer Seen As Cheap Or Inferior to Foreign Labels

GBA2 | GBAFOCUS Friday, April 9, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY ‘Made in China’ brand comes of age Homegrown products have made their mark on the Chinese mainland in the past decade, and are no longer seen as cheap or inferior to foreign labels. Luo Weiteng reports from Hong Kong. eng Jidong ditionally-patterned can still vivid- paper tapes from the Pal- ly remember one ace Museum to create their summer night nearly own Chinese-style packaging. Fa decade ago when he and four According to Shan, sales revenue college roommates, their eyes from innovative cultural products glued to computers, waited with soared to 1.5 billion yuan in 2017, bated breath for an online presale compared with 1 billion yuan in to kick o . 2016, and 600 million yuan in 2013. As the clock struck 10 pm, up masses, the In recent years, the saying “Palace to 100,000 of the latest models ongoing guochao The company Museum in the north, Dunhuang of the once little-known domestic trend goes beyond recorded 20 percent Research Academy in the west and smartphone maker Xiaomi had a basic ‘proudly Made in revenue growth in 2018, Yuyuan Garden in the east” has been sold out in the blink of an China’ concept and proves to be marking the first time the highlighted the three historic land- eye. One lucky dog among them a real market force to be reckoned brand’s revenue had hit the 10-bil- marks on a national level that have managed to bag one. Poor guys like with.” lion-yuan (1.5 billion) mark since been at the forefront of the guo- Feng still struggled to refresh the More than 80 percent of ready- its founding. chao trend. Their sheer existence landing page until the presale was to-buy items in Taobao consumers’ It may be hard to say how much reinforces the belief that “regional all over almost as soon as it began. online shopping carts were domes- Li-Ning’s turnaround can be attrib- uniqueness leads to global accep- “At that time, it was a rare expe- tic products, according to a report uted to winning recognition from tance”. rience indeed to scramble for unveiled by China’s biggest e-com- the West. Another example from In 2016, a three-episode televi- domestic products,” Feng recalled. merce company Alibaba Group footwear maker Feiyue may be sion documentary, “Masters in the “There was always a rush for in May. Over half of guochao fans more straightforward. Founded Forbidden City”, drew even great- iPhones, European luxury bags were found to be consumers born in the 1920s, the Shanghai-based er attention to the once-obscure and even Japanese rice cookers after 1995 and 60 percent of them brand, together with Warrior, once profession of antique restoration, and toilet seats. But when it comes come from third- and higher-tier dominated the nation’s footwear and resonated with young people to homegrown brands, most con- cities. business as the “go-to” sneakers for known for their ever-growing cul- sumers simply didn’t believe they Hu Yu, executive dean of the almost every Chinese in their hey- tural consciousness. were well worth the time and Institute for Cultural Creativity at day from the 1960s to the 1980s, The series, whose roaring success trouble.” Tsinghua University, highlighted only to be overtaken later by for- made it to the big screen several In the past 10 years, however, three major factors behind the eign brands like Nike and Adidas months later, also led to a surge in Feng has witnessed the boom rise of guochao. “The fi rst one is due to their global prestige. applications for jobs at the Palace times for indigenous products. ethnic cultures and the second, It was forgotten for about a Museum which, in 2015, celebrated Not only have historical or time- homegrown brands. The third and decade until a French entrepre- the 90th anniversary of protecting honored brands, whose popular- most important one, is the power neur rediscovered the shoe while the treasures and grounds of the ity slowly waned in the ’90s as of youth.” learning martial arts in China. He 500-year-old Forbidden City. more customers were attracted bought the rights to sell Feiyue in This o ers a glimpse of the con- to foreign goods, been revived to The power of youth France in 2006, and the brand took siderable mass base of the guochao become cool again, new domestic The dizzying growth of the o , both on the world stage and in trend, indicating how the momen- brands are also very much part of world’s second-largest economy its home country. tum has been driven signifi cantly by the wave. has given birth to a new breed profound grassroots sentiment and The 30-year-old native of Yun- of super consumers, who’ve now Culture confidence has what it takes for a far-reaching nan province had helped his gone beyond mimicking the pat- Kerra Zhou, founder of brand impact. cousin snap up the refined edi- terns of the more sophisticated strategy consultancy Kerrisma, “Nowadays, there’re numerous tion of the classic Warrior sneakers Western shoppers to being trend- said she believes the guochao culture-focused TV programs fea- — a 94-year-old Shanghai-based setters and innovators. trend is moving to the next stage, turing famous stars, including ‘Chi- sporting footwear label deemed Deemed one of the most remark- where its success will rely, first nese Poetry Competition’, ‘National as “must-haves” for gym classes at able footnotes to the nation’s and foremost, on gaining cultural Treasures’ and ‘Everlasting Clas- school in the old days. Feng also growth story, they’ve come of age confidence rather than Western sics’ that build up a sense of social joined the Singles’ Day shopping with a sense of national pride and validation. belonging for young viewers with spree to scramble for the special self-esteem, and are known to be To be sure, the origin of guochao China’s traditional culture,” said edition of Song Dynasty (960- enamored of brands carrying seri- The first one (reason behind can be dated back even earlier, at Charlee Ree, founder and chief 1279) ceramics-inspired lipsticks, ous cultural connotation. the rise of guochao) is ethnic least as early as when Shan Jixi- executive officer of Hong Kong- released by emerging Chinese Generation Z consumers, cultures and the second, ang, a famous former curator of based artifi cial intelligence market- mainland beauty brand Huaxizi, defi ned globally as the cohort of Beijing’s Palace Museum, made ing platform EternityX. for his girlfriend. Despite coming people born between 1996 and homegrown brands. The third good e orts in advocating di er- The impact of guochao has away with nothing in the presale 2010 and who made up about 15 and most important one, is the ent aspects of traditional Chinese expanded across business catego- 10 years ago, he has become an percent of China’s population and power of youth.” culture, essentially helping to turn ries, such as the high spending ardent supporter of Xiaomi, Hua- contributed to an estimated 40 one of the most visited museums potential fashion sector, where wei, Vivo and their domestic peers. percent of the country’s total con- Hu Yu, executive dean of the Institute for in the world into a trendy con- Western validation may remain as Although some may argue that sumption last year, have laid the Cultural Creativity at Tsinghua University sumer brand and modern fashion an open sesame to break into the the renewed interest in home- foundation for the guochao trend, phenomenon. elite club. It has also made its mark grown brands is the result of well- said Wu Shichun, founding part- In 2012, the Palace Museum, in cosmetics, retail, technology and crafted “hungry marketing” and ner of Plum Ventures — a venture also known as the Forbidden automobiles. whimsical branding, it can’t be capital fi rm based in Ningbo, Zhe- begun to overtake them in China ion Week in 2018, with its Taoism- City, which used to sell standard Guochao’s comprehensive and denied that once a badge of honor, jiang province. and beyond. inspired Wu Dao collection start- antique replicas that were out- complicated nature has fueled foreign products may no longer be He said Generation Z consumers “More importantly, a new breed ing to become collectors’ items. sourced to external manufacturers, an expanding range of brand col- the alpha and omega for consum- are paying more attention to per- of guochao entrepreneurs has a Established in 1990 as the epon- began developing its own branded laboration that taps into China’s ers feeling cool. sonal needs rather than just letting better understanding of Chinese ymous sportswear brand of Olym- products. It found initial success distinct heritage by leveraging cur- Today’s new generation of con- mainstream media dictate their consumers. Previously, big-name pic gold medalist-turned-entrepre- with original products from Chi- rent tastes for guochao productions, sumers want items that reflect tastes. They vote for product qual- foreign companies, in a one-size- neur Li Ning, who is hailed as the nese-style paper tapes to modern cultural creations and consumer their own culture rather than just ity and word of mouth rather than fi t-all approach, would sell their “Prince of Gymnastics” in China essentials like phone cases, with nostalgia. foreign heritage and exclusivity falling into the myth of big brands. brand stories across the globe. and lit the cauldron at the open- designs or branding inspired by For years to come, guochao looks that have been so popular to date, They fi rmly believe in the “pretty Such a narrative, with the tradi- ing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing the national treasures on display set to be a defi ning feature of Chi- which makes guochao, which lit- is power” culture in an aesthetics- tional Western way of thinking, Olympics, Li-Ning was positioned in the Palace Museum.

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