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July 30, 2016

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Home » Feature » Art and Culture

Finding escapism in a narrower dimension

By Tan Weiyun | July 30, 2016, Saturday | Print Edition

THEY live in a two-dimensional space — a world where they can believe in love, justice and purity. They shun entertainment in the three-dimensional world, where “reality” is full of troubles, dangers and misunderstandings.

This 2D subculture has suddenly sprung into the limelight, as evidenced at the 12th China International Cartoon and Game Expo earlier this month and the ChinaJoy 2016 fair that ends tomorrow.

In Chinese, the two-dimensional realm of animation, comics and games is called er ci yuan (二次元).

“The market has tremendous potential,” says Jane Li, assistant director of communications for the cartoon and game exhibition. “The industry today creates its own virtuous circle, with growing fans, more online and offline platforms, industry practitioners and strong investment.”

The 2D-world economy encompasses an integrated industry chain — animation, cartoons, games, music, video productions, performances and other peripheral products. The numbers of fans are expected to reach 200 million in China, and the market is forecast to grow to more than 100 billion yuan (US$15 billion) by the end of this year, according to two of the country’s biggest 2D culture social-networking platforms, Tieba.baidu.com and Bilibili.com.

According to Baidu.com, there are already 1.5 billion registered accounts, with active users totaling 300 million. About 80 percent of them are anime fans.

Indeed, animation is a main force in the trend. There are about 850,000 related post bars, or hobby groups, already. They mostly encompass those born in the past 20 years or so.

Website Bilibili.com has been staging the offline event Bilibili Macro Link since 2013, with participation soaring to 30,000 a day last year from 3,000 people at the start. It has become the biggest 2D culture platform in China. About three-quarters of its users are 25 years or younger.

Last Saturday, the website’s annual Bilibili Macro Link was launched in Shanghai, in tandem with Taobao.com. Admission tickets that originally sold for 72 yuan were fetching up to 300 yuan in the hands of scalpers. Some 1,280 yuan VIP tickets sold out within four minutes.

Businesses seeking to capitalize on this trend are growing. The under-25 consumer market in China is considered a hot one.

“That generation has grown up with animation and comics,” Li says. “They are accustomed to spending money on those products. They have loyalty, and their purchasing power expands as they grow older.”

The heart of the culture rests on escapism from reality. Nothing matters more than the beloved animation figures and plots that are updated weekly or monthly.

Two-dimensional world “citizens” love outlandish costumes and wild-colored hair, attracting curious stares from passers-by and knowing nods from fellow aficionados. In many cases, fans dress up as their animated idols.

“It fulfills my dreams, offers me a stage to show off myself and make new friends with people who share the same hobby as me,” says Landseer Qian, 22, a junior at a university in Jiangsu Province.

Qian, sporting pink hair and a bold-colored mini-skirt, traveled to Shanghai to take part in the annual Cartoon and Game Expo earlier this month, an event she has attended for the past three years.

She says she fell in love with animation in middle school.

“I was crazy about Japanese comics, such as ‘Princes of Tennis’ and ‘Inuyasha’ as well as the ‘Lost Tomb’ adapted from a Chinese novel,” she says.

Costumes and hairdressing to look the part to the hilt can cost about 600 yuan. Most of the 2D paraphernalia is bought from Taobao online shops.

“Sometimes it can be as expensive as over 10,000 yuan, if you want a helmet, sword and armor,” Qian says. “Doing the work yourself can save money.”

When everything is done, the costume players rent a car and drive to the suburbs to take photos and shoot video clips of themselves. The photos and videos are shared with 2D circles.

Qian says she plans to become a teacher, but she’ll never give up 2D costume play.

Xiao Rui, 16, flew from Fujian Province to Shanghai for this year’s Bilibili Macro Link. The admission cost him 580 yuan.

“More than 80 percent of my part time is spent on this,” he says. “I can’t live without it.”

According to iResearch, the majority of China’s 2D culture addicts are students who spend up to 3,000 yuan a year on their favorite comic books, peripheral products, game fees and travel.

Bilibili Macro Link started to turn a profit for the first time this year, a result that has not gone unnoticed by brands anxious to become sponsors.

Huang Shan is one of China’s earliest costume players. He turned from a hobbyist more than 10 years ago to a designer and maker of ball-jointed dolls, which are often modeled on anime and manga characters and used in costume playing.

Huang has more than 880,000 followers on Weibo, where he posts photos of the dolls he makes and the new animation figures used in costume playing.

In photos of himself, Huang appears in heavy make-up, exotic clothes and long hair. He is sometimes criticized for “over Photoshopping” himself and has even been suspected of having undergone plastic surgery.

“Sorry for cheating you and faking myself as a pretty boy,” he wrote on his Weibo account.

“My life has nothing to do with ‘delicacy.’ All of those fabulous stuff you see takes long hours of trying and painful honing.”

In January, Huang attended an online contest to promote costume playing and the 2D culture to a wider audience. Unfortunately for him, he was eliminated in the first round.

“Ten years ago, people did not accept this culture,” he said in an earlier interview. “They saw me as freaky. But today, even a 60-year-old granny knows what 2D culture and cosplay are.”

Will 2D-world culture ever fully integrate with mainstream culture? That depends on generational control of society, says Chen Rui, chairman of Bilibili.com.

Art and Culture


 

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