The firstborn in Temper Magazine’s new fashio-socio series explores the topic of China’s New Youth in the Roaring Twenties 2.0
Harder, better, faster, stronger.
Brit Photographer Tom Selmon X Temper Magazine Exclusive, 2019. All rights reserved
New Youth (新靑年 in Chinese) was a Chinese magazine in the 1910s and 1920s, which played an important part in triggering republican China’s New Culture Movement and spreading the influence of the May Fourth Movement (1919). China’s youthful rebels were on the prowl for…
National Independence, Emancipation of the Individual, Rebuilding Society, Liberating Culture.
“New Youth” was founded in Shanghai by Chen Duxiu (陈独秀 in Chinese; 1879-1942), who in 1921 became the co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party, on September 15, 1915. Magazine headquarters were moved to Beijing in January of 1917, when Chen was appointed Chairman of the Chinese Literature Department at Beijing University. Editors included great socio-politico thinkers and revolutionary writers such as Hu Shih (胡适 in Chinese; 1891-1962) and Lu Xun (鲁迅 in Chinese; 1881-1936).
The magazine kicked into gear the nation’s New Culture Movement, heavily promoting science, democracy and vernacular Chinese (白话 | báihuà in Chinese) — as opposed to the literary standard Classical Chinese. Rebels with a revolutionary cause.
Fast forward one century: 2019.
Chaperoned by the progressively compelling influence of a new life| style| fashion| “being” philosophy among China’s New Millennial Youth regarding individuality and the expression thereof, the fashion and urban lifestyle scenery in the Middle Kingdom is exploding.
A New Culture Movement has entered the minds and cities of contemporary China and just as they were 100 years earlier, China’s younger generations today are redefining their hopes, dreams and expectations in life.
Inundated with mobile apps, from Alibaba livestreaming to WeChat Mini Programs and Little Red Book shenanigans, influencing (or “Opinion Leading”) their everyday lives and moves, China’s digital Zeitgeist is altering personalities and behaviorisms at the speed of lightning — at the risk of daily life becoming fleeting. From artisanal fashion design to hip hop and folk culture or LGBTQ and genderless streetwear, China’s millennials are on the prowl for…
Fashionable Lifestyles, Individual Exclusivity, Social Sustainability, Youth Power.
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.
Our team of writers goes above and beyond, from Beijing and Shanghai to New York City, in order to babble, chitchat, contemplate, reverberate, discuss, dissect and elaborate. Summing up:
Welcome to the Temper tête-à-tête with China’s New Youth Culture.