The much feared and anticipated gao kao (China’s national college entrance exams) passed today with a big sigh of relief for the 9 million students who tested and their families. Despite some commentary about less students taking the test than did in the past, test takers continue to draw support.

Pictures of taxi drivers in Hubei province offering free rides, Shanghai subway prepares stationery for students and post on microblogs to remind students not forget necessities.

In the race for China’s theme park consumer mind share, there are currently three contenders. While none are up and running yet, we are excited to see how each country re-invents its classic characters for the Chinese market. Here is the basics of the animated invasion come to life:

Contender #1: Disneyland

characters: The Disney family (Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Winnie The Pooh etc.

country of origin: U.S.A.

location in China: Shanghai

budget: RMB 24.5 billion (US$ 3.7 billion)

opening date: 2015

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Finally MIDI Festival debuted in Shanghai! Held outside in Pudong’s Century Park from May 6 to May 8, over 40 foreign and domestic bands gave local music fans a rock carnival busting with music and fashion.

The nostalgia trend that post-80s have embraced was evident in fan fashion: caps from the Cultural Revolution period, tees with “80” printed on them, “Qing Chun (青春meaning youth)” also showed up on t-shirts, sailor’s striped shirts. Some of the hottest accessories made the show including unzipped black masks and the five-stroke armband made famous by recent junior nationalist phenomenon 12 year-old Huang Yibo (see China Daily’s report on him here).
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A new Group Purchase category is now available on Baidu Feng Yun Bang,a list updated in almost real-time at http://top.baidu.com. The list reveals the top keywords used in historical searches for the day and the week and — for some categories — even, the month. When browsing the page, visitors can see the top ten group purchase websites and a scrolling window detailing purchases made by shoppers’ gender, generation (70s, 80s, 90s, etc.) and location.

According to Baidu Feng Yun Bang, on April 29^th female searchers favored Jumei (www.jumei.com), the first cosmetics-focused group purchase site. The site also reveals generational differences; 90s include Jumei as one of their top ten favorite sites while post-70s and post-80s do not.

Location-wise, netizens from tier one cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, have almost the same site preferences. While, shoppers in lower tier cities in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangxi, Fujian, Hunan and Inner Mongolia have more diverse preferences. Province-based sites like  Luobotuan (www.luobotuan.com, offering group purchase services only in Zhejiang) and city-based sites like 0731 (www.0731.com.cn, only in Changsha) are favored by lower tier city consumers.

Using online promotions on sites including youth-focused Douban and Sina Weibo (Chinese Twitter), the Shanghai Committee of China’s Communist Youth League recently promoted a movie series that fits square into youth’s nostalgia craze. The event, dubbed Red Memory showcased classic odes to Shanghai including the films “Shanghai’s Today and Yesterday” (1975) and “Shanghai, Oh, Shanghai” (1980). To amp up the vintage atmosphere, the movies were shown using old-style projectors.

Booth after booth of fancy kibble and accessories sellers were lined up and packed with eager dog lovers this weekend in Shanghai. Not only were dogs for show and sale, cats, ferrets and yes even chickens were on display. Attendees demonstrated that Chinese consumers are redefining the pet ownership experience by bringing their own dogs – decked in 1-3 piece ensembles – strutting their stuff in the trade show, watching breed judging finals or dog races.

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