Want to Play Videogames In College Classes?
Too busy to get your daily dose of RADII? We got you every Tuesday with a summary of all the freshest takes on China’s youth culture in the last week.
- New look, new features — some great RADII storytelling and insights. Our new mobile-friendly site's infinite-scroll function offers an endless selection of hot content from center of Chinese youth culture — now curated across five fresh categories.
- Colleges in China are offering esports degree programs to hone the next generation of professional gaming specialists.
- Not an organic occurrence, Xining’s seasonal nightlife scene is a byproduct of the annual FIRST International Film Festival.
- Balenciaga designer Demna Vesalia’s latest product has got the whole internet talking, but is all press good press?
- Mistaking dolls dressed in qipaos for geishas is the last straw in a series of events that point at Miniso’s problematic branding.
Intrigued? Keep scrolling, my friend.
Want to Play Videogames in College Classes? Major in Esports
As dreamy as it might sound to take college courses at a cybercafé and be assigned videogames for homework, Qunkai Wang admits, “It might not be as easy as you think.” The college graduate who majored in Esports Analysis lays bare the truth with RADII.
After a four-year course at the Communication University of China, Nanjing, the country’s first school to set up an esports-dedicated division, Wang is now a certified esports commentator for multiplayer online battle arena video game League of Legends.
“Studying esports is about far more than playing games. It is a systematic study in every facet,” explains Wang.
Misunderstandings about what the major entails explains why many parents in China are still hesitant about backing esports studies. Some fear that their children might experience videogame addiction — a globally recognized illness by the World Health Organization as of this year.
But according to Wang, videogames and esports aren’t the same thing.
The 23-year-old’s current timetable only starts in the afternoon, but runs later than the average salaryman’s: From 13:00 to 17:00 and from 19:00 to 22:30, with an early dinner break in between.
When Wang isn’t refining his gaming skills, he is meticulously studying recorded performances by Honor of Kings’ top gamers.
He believes that attending gaming courses have enhanced his appreciation of game aesthetics, equipped him with the skills to maneuver their mechanisms, and heightened his assessment of each gamer’s persona.
“Such training lays a solid foundation for your core competitiveness in the esports job market,” he underscores.
Xining, a Sleepy City in Northwest China, Comes Alive at Night Once a Year
Outdoor screenings of arthouse films, performances by indie bands, and special appearances by movie stars — these are a few exciting events you would least expect from Xining, a city located in one of the remotest regions of northwest China, and home to a large population of religious minorities.
During the annual FIRST International Film Festival, a mecca for Chinese indie film buffs that runs from end July to early August, the city witnesses an influx of visitors, and the city’s demographics experience a shift. Largely composed of filmmakers, journalists, film industry workers (i.e. distributors and investors), and regular cinephiles, the temporary residents are drawn to the aforementioned nocturnal activities.
This year’s events, however, were less cheerful due to a last-minute announcement by the festival’s organizers: Only one week before the festival kicked off, it was made known that out of the concerns over Covid-19, all events or screenings would be invite-only.
Countless netizens took to Chinese social media to comment about the announcement, and ironically called the 16th edition of the festival a “film exhibition without an audience” — a description that wasn’t entirely accurate.
Xining’s nightlife scene experiences a boom during the annual festival — think live indie concerts (marketed as ‘Xining’s Night’ by the festival organizers) and open-air screenings. Held at Guozhuang Square, the festival’s main venue for outdoor activities, such events are always well-attended by locals.
- After a series of lockdowns that have taken a brutal toll on China’s film industry, the country’s box office is slowly bouncing back with successful films like ‘Moon Man.’
- Genre-bending and ethereal, Bloodz Boi’s new EP brings out all the feels, and are best experienced after a particularly long day.
- Would you check-in at this hotel where the hotel manager is an avatar and guests get to engage in gaming boot camps?
- A cosmopolitan, week-long affair, the 12th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) runs from August 13 to 20. Here’s what to expect from this year’s event, which champions the theme ‘WeUnitedly Advance.’
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