Introduction
Culture reflects the beliefs, lifestyle, art, traditions, and customs which define a group of people. It has been noted that youth culture originated from youth who “resisted subordination through the production of their own culturally subverse styles” (Yang 2011 p.1048).
Compared to earlier perceptions about youth culture as reflecting a political sign of deviance, the current youth culture employs new media to build communities and mobilize them for political beliefs which are acceptable worldwide.
The continued growth of web-based communication technologies across the world enhances the spread of content, making the content become diverse. Youth popular culture touches different racial, ethnic and geographical barriers while maintaining the unique identity of the individuals.
Youth culture often counters the adult and school based beliefs and thoughts to perpetuate their own values, attitudes and behaviors. Some people have come to accept the youth cultures as the appropriate environment for creating identity and positive transformation.
However, the youth culture is not generally accepted across the population, especially by parents, educators and the state who perceive it as encouraging laziness, deviant behaviors and causing degradation of social and moral standards.
Like many other parts of the world, young people in China have aligned themselves to global trends and are replacing traditional beliefs, and replacing them with internationally oriented values.
New media and Chinese youth culture
New media are means of communication that allow digital content to be sent over a wide range of devices, using internet enabled technology. This technology allows interaction of a large audience.
The new forms of media and communication technologies are embedded on diverse social and cultural contexts. The technologies can often bring into the socio-cultural environment strong destructive impulses on the social and cultural establishments which led to their emergence.
The technologies, thus, revolutionize the social and cultural foundations. Media and communication play an integral role in the social, cultural, economic, and political lives of people all over the world (Liu 2009).
The internet has become a daily routine in a significant sector of the population. The young generation, usually those born after the 1990s are perceived by the older generation as paradoxical.
This paradoxical view results from the perception that this category of the population has better living standards than the preceding generations, and has undergone less struggles and political radicalization. They are, generally, seen as lacking in morals and are obsessed with new media.
In the current world, youth culture defines the mechanisms through which industrialized, popular and commercialized tendencies perpetuate world capitalism and try to make them acceptable by accommodating the young population into their processes using new media.
New media have created a popular youth culture that encourages diversity and development of voices and cultural styles, hence giving the youth the ability to challenge the subversive cultural-political beliefs in the society (Harwit & Clark 2001).
Internet usage among the youths
The use of web-based technologies in China has increased tremendously since the 1990s. In 2006, close to 10 percent of the Chinese population was active in internet usage. Internet usage has become central to the lives of many Chinese as a result of broad attributes associated with the internet, such as commerce, games and social networking.
Despite the level of control exerted by the state, internet is still a viable option for people to express their freedom, association and access information. Technological changes provide a platform for people to access the internet and use the technology, hence democratizing public participation.
Internet provides an online medium that provides information, enhances mobilization, transparence, and social vision; this is in addition to playing an important role in entertainment and creating communities.
Internet promotes civic engagement and provides an alternative public sphere with broader freedom as compared to tradition forms of media which are often under tighter regulations.
A lot of significant social and cultural transformations, however, have taken place in response to the widespread adoption of new media (Liu 2009).
Internet penetration in China is high, with studies indicating that in 2009 about 384 million Chinese were active users. This represents the highest number of active internet users globally (ABC Radio Australia).
A majority of these users are found in urban settings and are youth. A great majority of the users access the internet via broadband connection using mobile phones and computers.
Individuals who do not access the internet either at their homes or schools access it in cyber cafes which are readily available. Majority of internet users are aged below 30 years, 54 percent of them being male and the rest are females.
The Chinese population uses the internet for a variety of reasons such as, “listening to or downloading music, reading news, using a search engine, instant messaging, playing games, watching videos, using a blog or personal space, emailing, using a social networking service, and reading net literature” (Wallis 2011, p. 412).
A growing number of users are also involved in bulletin board system. Most of the youth in China access the internet for purposes of entertainment, thus the Chinese cyberspace is perceived as a venue for socialization and entertainment.
The cyberspace, therefore, offers a venue for the Chinese to participate in fun activities, to express themselves, and to create communities. It is also an arena for mobilizing collective action. The average Chinese internet user spends about 44 percent of leisure time online (Wallis 2011).
The web-based technologies are used by the young Chinese generation as platforms for creating communities and identities in accordance with contemporary global trends.
Since the inauguration of internet services in China in 1995, the cyberspace has been dominated by dynamic and competing issues about governance and commercial, “as well as by grassroots movements and community formations whose networks merge online and off” (Wallis 2011, p. 412).
Being a heavily commercialized society characterized by relative freedom and regulation, most Chinese youth still utilize internet capabilities; this has in turn led to unity and reduced fragmentation across the society.
Bulletin board system and blogging as a popular Chinese youth culture
Bulletin board systems are among the earliest web-based applications. They are mostly run by commercial, noncommercial and government agencies. People use these applications as forums to engage others freely as well as post comments and views with the advantage of being able to relatively hide one’s identity.
In spite of the freedom that dominated these forums a few years ago, of late they are subjected to some control as compared to the earlier years. These forums are mainly established on diverse lifestyle aspects such as, “art, culture, education, health, love, cars, and finance” (Wallis 2011, p. 423).
These topics act as features for the formation of youth group identity, in addition to the use of fun language and synonyms that can only be comprehended by the forum members.
The bulletin board systems also often link online and offline events because most of these youth forums target regional, ethnic and local aspects of the population.
Many internet and associated bulletin board systems used by the youth try to identify with acceptable social standards concerning gender and family, even though other systems have emerged that provide space for the suburban population usually discriminated against in the society.
For instance, the Chinese-language web site is a bulletin board system that provides an imaginary world to people engaged in same sex relationships. This site offers emotional support to the assumed members who are stigmatized in the real world.
There is also, “the gay space in Chinese cyberspace” (Wallis 2011, p. 413), a bulletin board system where gays express their opinions in language referred to as comrade, a lighter form name for gay.
This space allows the gays converse through chat rooms and forums. The use of bulletin board systems is perceived to pose subversive risks arising from the greater freedom of expression and the anonymity the internet offers.
Blogging is also another internet application that provides space for expression of opinion and creation of identities that may enhance or subvert the status quo. Blogging was adopted in China in 2002, and it continues to be widely employed by the youth.
As of 2009, bloggers represented over 58 percent of the total internet users in China. A majority of these blogs are active and are not political based, but they are individual stories and opinions of young people about their lifestyles (Wallis 2011).
The Chinese blog space forms a vital avenue for information besides the official media. The most frequented blogs are those associated with celebrities such as athletes and movie stars. These blogs stir a wide range of conversation and debate from the general public and scholars on a variety of fields such as morality, human rights, and freedom of expression.
The blogs also command a large following of people, especially the youth, who do not necessarily agree to the established social standards and the status quo. Such people use the internet as a ground to express their individual agendas and opinions (Yu 2007).
Mobile phones
Most Chinese youth have responded with enthusiasm to mobile phones, exhibiting a distinct youth culture. The youth are perceived as enthusiastic users of mobile phones and actively involved in consumption of mobile content.
Many of the youth find themselves engrossed between regulations imposed by the school and parents that discourage usage of mobile phones. In spite of the restrictions, majority of the youth determine their causes and have means of obtaining their desires.
Most Chinese youth do not identify their mobile phone culture with music patterns, which they perceive as more of entertainment than a reflection of their values and attitudes.
Despite the evolving youth mobile phone culture, there are those who prefer the traditional forms of media and resent the new media.
The youth frequently use short text messages as a means of communication and are almost replacing the traditional modes of communication like use of greeting cards.
Text messaging is the most widely used form of mobile phone communication, perhaps because it is less costly than voice calls. Short text messages mostly convey jokes, greetings and other forms of information including some which touch on politics and morality.
However, in the older generation text messaging often does not get accommodated well as they perceive the abbreviations and instant nature of messaging as lacking exactness. The older generations still uphold face to face communication which they see as being more mature (ABC Radio Australia 2012).
Use of short text messages is perceived by some people as causing the emergence of a youth culture characterized by possession of a huge amount of information which is trivial and does not have meaning.
In spite of this perception, mobile devices contribute to the empowerment of the youth, particularly the migrant segment who have little access to personal landlines. These migrants use mobile devices for social networking, texting and making voice calls.
Through these channels of communication, the migrants are able to connect with their families and friends from their mother countries.
The young population also uses mobile phones for dating, which often creates tension between them and their parents, especially young women who indulge independently in intimate relationships.
Mobile phones have, thus, stirred the formation of youth identity and communities in the Chinese population. The use of mobile phones in China is the highest in the world, with close to 766 million users as of 2010.
A majority of the youths have moved from using mobile phones for texting purposes to using cell phones as internet chatting devices through social networks.
As a result of existing gaps between the urban and rural population as pertains to material possessions and lifestyle, early studies targeted use of mobile phones among the urban segment; thus, mobile phones defined a culture that was, “urban, sophisticated, fashionable lifestyle, as in other places around the world” (Wallis 2011, p. 415).
In the present day China, both the urban and rural youth populations align themselves to the above attributes in possessing a mobile phone.
Social networking sites and chatting among the youths
Social networks are the relatively latest new media culture in China. These sites have been well adopted by the youth as they enable the youth to sustain their identity and social life with enhanced privacy.
These social networking sites allow the participants to post their comments and opinions from other media channels, leading to building of an imaginary transnational community. Chinese social networking sites commonly have online games, which the youths have widely adopted.
As these young individuals create and share content on the sites, the youth have created a participatory culture characterized by relatively few restrictions to personal expressions, high civic involvement, and a form of informal mentorship that allows those who are well informed to share their experiences and opinions with others (Yu 2007).
In the participatory culture, the participants believe that their opinions are valued and they derive social satisfaction by being connected with their peers.
These participatory cultures have a number of beneficial outcomes including providing learning opportunities, expansion of cultural expression, and refinement of fundamental skills and development of empowerment attitudes (Lagerkvist 2008).
The rapid increase of people involved in social networking is attributed to the increased immigrant youth population who are separated from their families and hence need to keep contact with their families back at home.
The increase in social networking in China is also due to high pessimistic perceptions and distrust of state controlled media. China’s One-Child Policy has also yielded a lonely generation who rely on social media to beat boredom and create communities (Yu 2007).
It is no doubt that social media opens up a new world for the youth of China to interact and get a sense of belonging. It is necessary to mention that there are disparities in internet usage in China occasioned by several factors.
The disparities in internet usage across China arise from language, extent of economic empowerment, and the embedded digital platforms. Despite these disparities, it is no doubt that there will be increased use of the internet and new media communication among the youth of China.
This youth culture is also likely to infiltrate to the older population who are less knowledgeable than the youth in the new media.
Conclusion
The drastic developments which have occurred in the world, particularly the proliferation of new media, have led to the emergence of a distinct youth culture. This culture manifests features of hybridity and has stratified information society, where dynamic global and local trends are merged into daily life activities and sociopolitical behaviors.
The youth represents the most media and technology savvy population in China. The way the youth use media has led to the creation of a youth culture. These young people employ new media tools in championing their social causes, and to challenge the status quo.
Across the cultural parameters, the youth are using mobile phones and internet to negotiate on the economic state and traditional morals in the present social environments.
New media surpasses features of localized identity. This makes the youth feel at ease to use new media as a platform for socializing, debating and entertainment among other beneficial uses.
List of References
ABC Radio Australia, 2012, Mobile internet trumps desktops in China Survey. Web.
Harwit, E & Clark, D 2001, ‘Shaping the internet in China: Evolution of political control over network infrastructure and content’, Asian Survey, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 377-408.
Lagerkvist, J 2008, ‘Internet ideotainment in the PRC: National responses to cultural globalization’, Journal of Contemporary China, vol. 17, no. 54, pp. 121-140.
Liu, F 2009, ‘It is not merely about life on the screen: Urban Chinese youth and the internet café’, Journal of Youth Studies, vol. 12, no. 20, pp. 167-184.
Wallis, C 2011, ‘New media practices in China: Youth patterns, processes, and politics’, International Journal of Communication, vol. 5, pp. 406-436.
Yang, G 2011, ‘Technology and its contents: Issues in the study of the Chinese internet’, The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 70, no. 4, pp. 1043-1050.
Yu, H 2007, ‘Blogging everyday life in Chinese internet culture’, Asian Studies Review, vol. 31, pp. 423-433.