Word: punk
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...formed by Ivan 13 and Ada 11. These pint-sized rockers were both the youngest and most rock n' roll act I'd seen all day. Despite technical difficulties and near sabotage by a missile Space Hopper (or Hoppity Hop), the Tiny Masters intrigued the audience with their raw punk talent and surreal image. They were also extremely cute...
...globally minded as they may be, the punks of Beijing still face the same limitations as their peers do on their lifestyles. Ma, 22, lives alone in a traditional Beijing home vacated by his family, who left for a more modern place. But for everything other than his biking, he is still financially dependent on his parents, like most of his companions. Only a few stores in Beijing sell skateboards and BMX bikes, and the punk music scene here is concentrated around a small number of clubs that sometimes have punk concerts...
...dozens of shops and restaurants. On summer nights, the lights are all on as people walk up and down the street, stopping to buy clothing, KFC chicken, jewelry, medicine, and anything else this consumer paradise has to offer. In many ways, Wangfujing represents the sort of consumerist bounty that punk culture rejects. It Also offers a venue for Ma to live out his anti-mainstream philosophy...
...punk scene here does grate heavily on modern Chinese society's expectations. Some punks drink and smoke marijuana, and the image they project is to many, as Campbell puts it, "a turnoff." The government doesn't approve of skateboarding and riding in public places because of the physical damage the kids cause. But its greatest drawback is something deeper: its anti-commercial philosophy...
...keeping themselves real, they've also marginalized themselves," says P.T. Black, a marketing consultant who follows trends in China. "People don't understand why you wouldn't want to be mainstream." Because consumerism is still quite new here, the true punk lifestyle, beyond the loud music and crazy hair, enjoys limited appeal. Even Ma will have to make his peace with the commercial world - a student of stage design, he plans to pursue a career outside his biking. "In this society," he says, "there's no way for me to live like this...