Hopes and Prayers

During the interview with Alex Hu, Alex expressed his hopes and dreams in modern day China. Alex is a college student and looking toward the graduation. He indicated that it was most youth's goal to help their family, the society and the country. He stated that his parents were concerned about basic needs, whereas he is concerned about getting a meaning job that will ensure a good future for himself and make him financially comfortable. He believes that the future of China looks good. The article I located talked about 2 - 20 year olds who were caught racing. The article went on to discuss the rapid decline in the price of cars. This opened a market for youngsters who want to buy cars and "change their sluggish lives". The article also puts Chinese youth in the same boat as youth all over the world; they are racing and their parents are praying for their safety.

My conclusion about Alex and this article reveal that Chinese youth are no longer the secluded youths behind the "Great Wall". They are behaving just like the youth in Raleigh, NC, New York City, NY and London, England. They have wants and desires to be financially secure and live a good life. China and the West have almost completed the merger of western culture and Chinese culture within the ranks of its youths.

Tom


Drag racing in China; Sanlian and FHM
Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn, April 4, 2006 3:08 PM

Boy racers of Beijing

San Lian Life Week's April 3 issue features the cover line Drag racing youths. With the steadily-decreasing price of cars, speed-loving Chinese youngsters are taking to illegal drag racing with the same enthusiasm as their counterparts in other countries.

The 'boy racer' phenomenon has been a source of worry to parents and society all over the world since James Dean made drag racing famous in Rebel Without a Cause, and it's no different in Beijing.

The trend has become a subject of public discussion in Beijing since February 10 this year, when the police arrested two 20-year-old men for racing around the city's Second Ring Road at death-defying speeds - nearing 150kph, or fast enough to complete the circuit in under 13 minutes and place them in the Beijing racing pantheon with the legendary "Sir 13 of the Second Ring" (a title the Sanlian article conspicuously avoids). The article profiles one of the youths, and looks at the influence on China's high octane youth culture of Formula 1, which entered the country in 2004 when Shanghai opened an F1 racing track.

The April issue of FHM's Chinese edition gets in on the drag racing vocab trend, using the Chinese word for drag racing (飙 - biao1) in a coverline: You can drag race whatever you ride: Donkey, horse, camel: completely change your sluggish life.

Inside the magazine are adverts for automobile brands KIA and Buick, and a special section sponsored by Cadillac. The San Lian Life Week issue contains ads for Ford and Buick, as well as a co-branded ad for Nokia and BMW.

For more on drag racing in greater China, have a look at blogger Glutter's Hong Kong street racing section.