Understanding selfies in China!

Selfies are now part of global digital behaviour. However, in China, selfies take on a unique significance. Do you know why?

Walking around in Shanghai, you can see a ‘selfie avalanche’

It all started when they were kids

Due to the one-child policy (now discontinued),  most millennials grew up at at time when, put simply – there was an explosion in consumer cameras, and an inverse drop in the amount of children that could be photographed – namely one, the only child.

The childhoods of local millennials were ‘captured’ through a constant series of family photos and studio bookings to capture key moments in their lives.  The lived as their ‘family’s celebrity’, every moment was deemed ‘photographic’ – this built an particular media habit that accompanied them into their adult lives.

Also, as only children went through teenage-hood, there was a huge trend in China around, what were known, as ‘big head stickers’.   Images – pre-selfies – that were taken at arcades, individually or with friends.

Just as local millennials were entering adulthood, along came mobile phones to save the day.   Just as they were entering a ‘trough’ of attention, they were given a optimal device to ensure their photographic fame lived on – even better, they were in control of this process now.

One of the unique aspects that differentiates Chinese selfies from elsewhere, is the immense level of poetic license that is allowed.   Selfies really realistic in China.   Using Meitu and other apps, netizens create an optimized (paler, thinner, perfect complexion) version of themselves.

From a cultural context this makes sense, many things in China are driven by the logic that inspiration comes from a perfect form or essence of something – this philosophical point was structured by Confucianism, and taken to extreme levels in recent decades.   A selfie, quite simply, is a technological solution to creating and participating in the ‘pursuit of cultural perfection’ – as once again, you are in control.

The selfie – the ultimate form of face

Often described as ‘giving face’, their is key notion within Chinese culture, that you need to convey respect and importance to others, failure to do this appropriately, result in ‘losing’ or “not giving’ face – a cultural taboo.

In the perplexing cultural world of ‘face’, mobile phones have been a magic solution.  How do you give face to someone?  Easy – take a selfie with them.  Sounds simplistic.  But a quick image search on Chinese social media, and the reality will become stupefyingly clear – selfies are the contemporary way to ‘give face’.

Proof tourism – just selfie yourself

One of the key aspects of new experience in China that give them meaning, is the ability to share them..   The selfie has become the ultimate weapon in ‘proof tourism’, an essential part of proving your ‘upwardly mobileness’ in a rapidly-changing China.

Once again, it trumps a official shot taken by the tour groups – a selfie put you in control, so you are far better associating it with your own success and progress – still an essential message in China.