Guangzhou adventures

It's only been a few days since I came back from Guangzhou and I never thought I would be missing the city already. To be honest, I wasn't very interested to go to China simply because I had a bad first experience 10 years ago during my visit to Beijing. The air was polluted, streets were dirty and the people were rude. Thankfully, I had the nicest mainland Chinese classmates who changed my perception and made me believe that maybe the country has changed over the decade.

The trip overall was a fruitful one and we visited most of the places we wanted to go. We went to a textiles and clothing manufacturer factory, Shamian Island which was a European architecture inspired place, Guangzhou's international textiles town, several cool stores including GOFUN and 方所/Commune and even attended a talk held by BlueSpace, a fashion consultancy company. I even celebrated my birthday there which was a first for me as I've never celebrated my birthday overseas and away from my family before. It was really sweet because I shared my birthday with Chris and I had the company of my friends who countdown till my birthday and some came to surprise me in my room.

Here are some of the topics I've noticed during this trip:

ART AND CULTURE

To my surprise, most of the people I met throughout the trip were friendly and China’s customer service drastically improved compared to the last time I was there, surpassing Singapore’s customer service. Retail staffs were more sociable and many tried to start a conversation with me and were interested to know where I came from, rather than just focusing on selling what they had. I remember having a short and nice conversation with the cashier at one of the shops in the Guangzhou’s textiles market. She mentioned that she was amazed that as a Malaysian, I could converse well in Mandarin and knew three other languages (English, Malay and Cantonese), while most of the mainlanders were behind by language as they only knew Mandarin. Although customer service has improved, their etiquette could be better especially when commuting on the train.

China has become notably cleaner and greener as you could find a tree every few meters around the city. I noticed there were relatively many luxury cars from Bentleys, Teslas and Porsches as well as luxury malls and homes throughout the area. I used to think that Shanghai is the place where the riches stay, but turns out Guangzhou holds the fastest rising luxury homes market than any other city in the world. (Frankhouser, 2017) While China has immensely transformed in terms of technology and status, I noticed that the older generations were still laid back in the past. I saw a group of people enjoying their dance lessons in a park, some people were exercising while others were playing musical instruments. It was an interesting sight to me because nowadays even older generations are influenced to face the screens of their phones rather than doing physical activities.

FASHION

I noticed several fashion tribes in Guangzhou, such as the casual, Korean style influence and streetwear fashion among the younger generations, while older generations prefer louder fashion choices such as bold patterns, colours and bling. There were also many rich people who were wearing brands on brands like Gucci t-shirt, Gucci bag and Gucci shoes. I noticed that most of them would pick out the obvious pieces which would clearly show the brand they wore and Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Burberry were among the popular ones.

In the talk we had at BlueSpace, a fashion consultancy firm, they mentioned that the consumers in China are quick to accept trends but these trends tend to fade away fast as well. Michael Kors was extremely popular for 3 years but the trend has died down as trends usually only last 3-5 years in China. With most consumers striving for the latest fashion, classic styles in China don’t sell well with the market. Fashion in China used to be about comfort but with the rise in consumption and an enhancement in standards of living, fashion has become something to feed the soul whereby it shows an individual’s identity and economic status. Comparing Guangzhou and Shanghai in the fashion market, Guangzhou is more on the manufacturing and wholesaling, with Guangzhou’s fashion week mainly featuring local designers, whereas Shanghai’s fashion week is higher end and more for creative and international exposure.

While China is a shopping heaven for girls, I noticed that the retailers were saturated and most of them sold similar things in the same price range along Shangxiajiu Street and Beijing Road. The ratio of clothing stores to shoes and accessories stores were almost 9 to 1. In shopping malls, clothing store sales were from 50%-80% off which I found quite astonishing as these brands were on par with Topshop and Zara in terms of pricing and quality but they were marking down their prices like H&M and Cotton On. Typically markdowns in Singapore rarely even reach 70% off. Nevertheless, this could be due to the strong competition from online retail giants like Taobao and T mall with their extensive merchandise selection.

As to Guangzhou’s fashion promotion efforts, I noticed that celebrity endorsements are still popular in China. Throughout the trip, I saw several campaigns featuring international artists such as American singer, Shawn Mendes for Emporio Armani watches, Korean actor, Lee Min Ho for Innisfree and American model, Karlie Kloss for Swarovski. Trendy Chinese brand, Ochirly even featured Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid on their latest spring summer campaign. Celebrity endorsements are also popular digitally with consumers favouring celebrities in promoting what’s trending compared to bloggers and influencers. (Chen, 2017) I went on Weibo and found that Chinese idols Yang Mi, Hu Ge and Kris Wu are among the most influential celebrities in China in terms of followings.

Another interesting promotional effort I’ve witnessed in China was a combination of freebies marketing and digital marketing, something rarely to be seen in Singapore. I was intrigued when I saw people giving out free balloons and cute felt hairclips as I was walking along the streets. Little did I know, in order to get the freebie, you’ll have to get connected via WeChat. While many countries still connect their consumers through signing up for the email newsletters, in China, with a single scan of a QR code, the brand gets access to the consumer’s basic information while the consumers get connected, updated with the latest brand promotions, campaigns and they can even shop directly on WeChat.

TECHNOLOGY

When we were at Redtory Art and Design factory, I noticed many people there were trying to get the perfect gramworthy photo rather than enjoying the art and design of the factory. Most of them were young adults and they were taking photos of anything and everything. Maybe because we went to Redtory on a Sunday so the ones who visit are only there for the photos. I even noticed girls were using their phones instead of cameras to take the photos even though cameras produce better quality photos. With their phones, they often use Chinese beauty camera applications such as BeautyCam, Meitu and Foodie to enhance their features which verified my thoughts on mainlanders being image-conscious, tech savvy individuals.

Throughout my visit in Guangzhou, I felt like I’ve gotten a preview of what the near future holds in other parts of the world. Mobile payment methods via WeChat pay and Alipay has been available in China for almost 10 years and Singapore has only just started to introduce it now. The locals paid with their phones and it made queues go by faster and more efficiently. At restaurants, we could even scan our waiting number QR code and a notification text will be generated when the table is ready. Everything had a QR code and there was even QR codes beside the art works at the museum for people who were interested in listening to the explanation instead of reading it. There were even rentable power banks readily available at restaurants and coffee shops.

SUMMARY

Overall, this global experience has brought me to new light and opened my eyes in terms of digital advancements. As someone who hopes to go into the digital marketing field, Guangzhou has taught me efficient and innovative ways to market online and to not just limit myself to what brands are typically doing. I initially questioned the places we went and didn’t understood why we had to go there as I thought it didn’t relate to what I wanted to do. As my lecturer explained to me and I thought harder myself, I realised that wherever I am at, even the slightest things could link to what I’m hoping to learn as long as I am observant enough to realise it. My perception of China has changed and it has changed for the better. Despite this visit being relatively short, it was definitely sweet for me as I definitely felt that my rationing has matured, while my experiences have grown fruitful as well.

Anyway, scroll down below to see my mini photo blog which is up on my Instagram profile highlights - "GUANGZHOU".