China's Factory of Ideas - Chinese internet culture exported

Get ready for the future of the internet, courtesy of China—Tech giants like Weibo, Alibaba and Tencent spent years growing behind the Great Firewall, nurtured by the Chinese Xi Jinping government. Now, they’re using their power, technology, and influence to shape all of our digital lives.

Quartz reporter Isabelle Niu examines China’s multi-billion-dollar live streaming industry to understand how China is transitioning from being the world’s factory of things to a factory of ideas. Will the live streaming celebrity with revenue streams from virtual gifts business model be the next Chinese import? Will LiveMe take off in Silicon Valley?

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[tofuyam]

we watch other people living life rather than living our own life fully.

[e]

I am 27 years old and feel like I sound lile my grandpa, when saying that I do not understand these trends and do not want to participate in them. Weird.

[yuliu]

what's it gonna look like? full of superficial and artificial people behind the cameras with filters and tons of keyboard warriors

[PossibleBat]

We are selling the “human experience” to people instead of letting they make us their own experience. It’s very sad, it’s happening on a global scale, monetizing relationships, emotions and feelings.

[Xgen]

I think a big reason watching livestreams of attractive people in China is so popular is the lack of porn.

[ropro]

They look just as vacuous as streamers in the West.

[nexx]

Why would I watch a bunch of nobodies on live stream?

[hanniffydinn]

This is already happening, every YouTuber and twitcher is live streaming. You tuber make more money on super chats these days !

[bd]

You miss one thing, Tik Tok, which is the cancer of the world must be wiped out.

[prettylights]

Um...watching this started making my chest hurt! Just because Live Streaming is successful, profitable for big tech companies and the select few top earners, does not mean this is a positive platform for most people.
From this video it appears the Chinese to be glued to their phones (for mind dulling entertainment purposes) even more-so than the West. If this is what China thinks is good for it's people and the rest of the world...it makes me very heavy hearted. I'm 27 by the way.

[onceonce]

Stream culture already exists in the west though, most youtubers have a platform on twitch and you have people paying belle delphine 4K a month on patreon alone which shows how much people are willing to invest in these online personalities

[funny-video-YouTube-channel]

*Very true. The Chinese Internet* makes huge waves. The Indian funny videos are also hilarious.

Recently, the China national post started subsidizing international shipping of light packages. There are apps for light products that people order directly from China and get them within a week or so. This is how China does compete with eBay and Amazon for light products that they can ship for cheap from China.

There will be many more wave of change. Let's see what else happens in this huge country.

[taihaileizoe]

Why are people bashing livestreaming?
A) It happens outside China and the US (mostly the EU and Oriental-Asia).

B) It’s not mindless content.
They can be entertaining to people, and actual effort needs to be put in place, in order to keep people entertained. People have to keep coming up with new ideas that haven’t been done before to attract viewers and make a living. They also have to try and enjoy it themselves. It’s a job but simultaneously a hobby. Much like TV programs, or books, the same few ideas won’t do well forever. A writer/director has to keep coming up with new ideas. A streamer is no different.

C) People can watch livestreams _and_ experience the outside world. Wow!

Like watching TV or reading or drawing or writing or sowing or knitting or going to the gym or literally *any* other hobby, majority of people don’t do it 24/7 and actually have a life. They can experience the outside world.

They’re, 9x outta 10, not trying to escape through someone else’s life (although I can’t deny it doesn’t happen, but same goes for every hobby).

[RayMak]

You're the most handsome to every guy. Hehehe

[gasun]

stream culture has been a thing in the west back when the chinese were still figuring out how to type their own language in computers

[kukuandkookie]

People may disagree, but I am quite impressed with China on its growth. ^^
I find it to be more commendable just because China was so unfortunate during the 20th century.

[solchrystal]

In my line of work I see this every day. China is really taking over when it comes to many aspects of modern life like the internet, technological advancements, trends, etc.

This is so real to me now, that I use WeChat in my daily working life to communicate with colleagues and partners in China (that only use that app) and I started learning Mandarin this year to make myself more competitive in the job market. I already know Spanish, Portuguese and English but that is not enough. I see advertisements every day for job openings that have Chinese (fluent) as one of the requirements.

[pwgearedturbofan]

"Innovation doesn't require the free flow of ideas."
Lol, that is incredibly wrong. Any innovation that comes from restricted societies is in spite of that restriction, and it would be more prominent without the restrictions. Part of that "innovation" comes from stolen intellectual property from free societies. 🤦‍♂️ Yea.. America doesn't want that "culture" imported.

[ReasonableRadio]

"what is going to look like when our digital lives are made in China too" well it's going to be pretty hard to find a map of Taiwan or episodes of Winnie the Pooh

[tyler]

One interesting thing about the internet growing is that when everyone is connected and sharing ideas and opinions, we will all eventually come to be one giant internet culture that will translate into our daily lives. This will take a long time and who knows if that united culture will be healthy.