The “Pick-up Artist” (PUA) Subculture

[Randy W]

Online curation to prove their worth can’t bring these socially awkward young men the bright future they desperately want. The techniques they learn in pick-up artist classes ultimately generate more anxiety.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
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How China’s Pick-Up Artists Fell Victim to Their Own Mind Games
For members of the much-criticized subculture, wealth isn’t enough anymore. You need to have class.

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The “pick-up artist” (PUA) subculture originated in the United States in the early 1970s. In its earliest incarnation, it mostly sought to teach men techniques for persuading women at clubs and bars to go home with them for casual sex. In China, PUA has become a byword for emotional and verbal abuse, but in the course of my fieldwork on Shenzhen’s PUA community, the majority of the students I met weren’t serial predators, just socially awkward young men who lacked confidence and experience talking to women. Most of them signed up for lessons to expand their social circles, meet more prospective partners, learn how to manage a relationship, or win back an ex.

 . . .

The company Quinn enrolled with charges 7,800 yuan ($1,200) for eight weeks of in-person lessons. Rejecting the PUA label, it instead emphasizes “empowering” young men to demonstrate their value and win over the “goddesses” they covet. Some of its students are children from wealthy families like Quinn, but most are men in their twenties who are working hard to make a decent living in Shenzhen. The firm’s clients generally earn around 10,000 yuan a month, enough to put them in the middle class, but not enough to buy a home in the city’s overheated property market — much less realize their dreams of lifelong “financial freedom.”

The course requires students to sign up for dating apps and social media to hone their skills: Every week, they must chat with and ask out seven to 10 women. The most crucial of these skills is what trainers and students alike self-deprecatingly referred to as bi ge. A homonym for the English word “big,” a literal translation of the term would be unprintable, but it refers to the ability to pass as a man of wealth and class, regardless of one’s actual social position. Pulling off bi ge requires constant curation of one’s social media profile, style, personal choices, and body.

 

 

[Randy W]

China’s culture industries have been warped by their reliance on fan culture, algorithms, and tech platforms. Now, Chinese regulators are rethinking their approach to the digital economy and its excessive influence.

"On August 2, state-run news agency Xinhua published two major reports on China’s “unhealthy” fan culture."

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
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For China’s ‘Traffic Stars,’ a Sudden Crash
The country’s culture industries have been warped by their reliance on tech platforms and online fan groups. Now the government is stepping in.

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On August 2, state-run news agency Xinhua published two major reports on China’s “unhealthy” fan culture. The first detailed the powerful Cyberspace Administration of China’s recent crackdown on unruly fan groups, which has so far resulted in the removal or closure of 814 hashtags and more than 1,300 groups engaged in channeling traffic to celebrities. The second article covered new guidelines meant to push content platforms away from a reliance on online traffic — and the algorithms that drive it — and toward artistic values and the public good.

The government’s renewed scrutiny of fan culture, algorithms, and digital platforms comes less than a month after celebrity rapper Kris Wu was detained on suspicion of rape. Perhaps the most famous member of a generation of pop idols known more for their ability to mobilize vast online fandoms than their musical talent, Wu was the quintessential “traffic star,” or liuliang mingxing. These idols worked together with dedicated fan groups to boost their social media profiles through hashtags, shares, and policing negative comments. The most successful are placed at the top of microblogging platform Weibo’s influential “star power list” — proof of their marketability and a powerful draw for film producers, investors, and brands.

 

 

[Randy W]

Chinese women are fed up with dating self-absorbed men. A concept originally from Japan, “butler cafés” are now offering them the kind of male attention they desire — for a fee.

Read more: http://ow.ly/Icwp50G2Vnv

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
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China’s Hottest New Rental Service: Men Who Actually Listen
Chinese women are fed up with dating self-absorbed men. Now, “butler cafés” are offering them more attentive male company — for a fee.

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SHANGHAI — At 40 years old, Zheng says she’s tired of searching for the perfect man. So she’s decided to hire one instead.

Whenever she feels like some male company, the divorcée heads to a café in central Shanghai named The Promised Land. There, she spends hours being pampered by a handsome young server, who fetches her drinks, watches movies with her, and listens attentively to her anecdotes.

The sessions cost over 400 yuan ($60) each time, but Zheng says they’re worth every cent.

“The butlers respect me and care about my feelings,” she tells Sixth Tone. “Even if you have a boyfriend, he might not be this sweet, right?”