Subcultures are an interesting phenomenon. Big or small each one has something interesting to offer. And they can take shape in form into just about anything. While for us out here in the West, we predominantly have images of Punks, Goths, and maybe even 2000s emos come
To mind. Music isnt the only thing that can bring a collective group of people together. Fashion can do just the same, which is easy to see when you look at Lolita fashion or steampunk. Or even more serious things such as the niche 70s Cypherpunks, who essentially created a small collective of people gathered
Around data encryption and anonymity during the very early days of computers. But with subcultures and the various ways they take form, it begs the question. What do some of these things look like once we leave the Western bubble? Moving just about anywhere outside the West and you’ll
Find a whole host of different subcultures, some similar to ours some vastly different. We have the Russian Gopnicks, Adidas-wearing, liquor-loving squatters, blasting hard bass to their heart’s content. There is also the Japanese Zentai, spandex-clad boys just out to have a good time. So what about countries that are more totalitarian and authoritative,
With soul-crushing working conditions, and not exactly, shall we say, accepting natures to individuality? Well, we have China’s most despised and hated, Shamate. “Under mountains of hair gel and dye emerges the pain and anxiety of a generation of left-behind children, the loneliness and monotony of factory work, and the way such a parched
Existence can become fodder for a massive movement of creativity and expression.” The Shamate, are a subculture almost solely composed of migrant youth and young adults, originating from the rural farmlands of China, who were brought to the big cities
With the promise of better jobs, better wages, and a new lease on life. Only to be met with the overwhelming reality of dread. That is the life of a Chinese factory worker. Shit pay, grueling hours, and mistreatment from the office working upper-class
That sees you as little more than an uneducated, worthless, country bumpkin. The Shamate are a subculture defined by their odd and flamboyant aesthetics, which serve as not only a form of peacocking but as a light to those around them. Finding community,
Hope, and belonging with each other. So just what do these people look like? To uncultured swine, you look and see scene kids, dressed and ready to take on the eternal summer that is Warped Tour. To those more familiar with Asian music, you might see a Chinese rendition
Of Visual Kei. But these are none other than the Shamate, a working-class group of rebels who defied the rules and expectations posed to them. And found hope in wild hair styles, cheap hair dye, and the confidence to eschew conformity for the freedom of self-expression.
Now I know you might have some questions, or even some preconceived judgment, so without further adieu. Let’s learn just who these people are and let’s talk about China’s most misunderstood subculture, let’s talk about the Shamate. Alright, so now that you got your gawking out of the
Way let’s talk about just where these neon-haired techno junkies came from. In most cases, subcultures are spawned by an amalgamation of various figures and influences that cominlge over time. Whether it be a small group of bands who have a crossover or some various fashion trends that mix over time. In general,
These sort of things kinda just happen naturally and slowly. But in the case of the Shamate, you can really trace the whole thing back to one main figure. Luo Fuxing, an eccentric hairstylist from China, who for a the better part of 10 years,
Would act as the patriarch and ring leader of the Shamate family. This was all born out of the fact that at 11 years old Luo discovered the Japanese idol and rockstar Miyavi. Miyavi himself is an artist with a long and interesting history,
Being a long-time staple in Japanese pop culture, a beloved personality, a guitar player, and most importantly for Luo, an artist who indulged in the Visual Kei genre and aesthetic. In awe of the fashion, makeup, and hairstyles Miyavi showed off,
It would all come heavily inspire Luo, who would opt to get his hair styled similarly to him. “By sheer chance, I found a photo of a [Japanese] music star, Miyavi. I hadn’t heard his name before or listened to his songs. I also had no idea what rock, punk,
Or gothic genres were like. But I found his style appealing, and I wanted to be as cool as he was. I downloaded his picture and went to our village’s only hair salon, telling them I wanted this style.
When it was finished, I felt that it was so unique and belonged only to me. After that, whenever I had the time, I’d stay at home alone, give myself a new hairstyle, and pair it with makeup and accessories. You could buy a whole set of cosmetics at a kiosk
Back then for 100 yuan. My favorite style was a side fringe covering one of my eyes; it’s so cool. I would upload my photos online, along with Miyavi’s. I lied to my classmates and my online friends, telling them that Miyavi was also a shamate. Nobody in my
Village had heard much about foreign stars, so they didn’t know Miyavi and didn’t doubt me.” As I am sure most of you know, China is pretty strict on what it lets its citizens see and indulge in from outside countries. Hence the great firewall of China, internet censorship,
And general restrictions. The separation of Tiktok and Douyin is not a new phenomenon, its been a long time standard for how China operates. Western versions of their websites and social media have just about always been a far cry from the heavily moderated and curated versions of their own home counterparts.
It’s no secret at this point that China is a culture that thrives of hierarchy and conformity. So outside influences that could challenge the status quo are generally things the powers that be would prefer to keep outside. And where this all connects with Luo is that
After he got his stylish haircut and began dressing in his new VK-inspired fashion. The selfies he took and the looks he showed off on social media would begin to amass a following. And by tagging it all with the label Shamate, a poor translation of the English words “smart”. The
Pieces would begin to come together. In a matter of months, the allure and intrigue around Luo’s fashion sense would begin to amass not only a following. But many imitators, are eager to dawn their own colorful and vibrant hairstyles and also brand themselves as Shamate. In seeing this
Luo would start a guerilla marketing campaign. Encouraging others to “recruit” people to the Shamate, and create an internal hierarchy, organizing groups on web forums, chat rooms, and eventually creating his own hubs for the growing masses of Shamate to congregate online.
But before we delve into that, we should probably get a better understanding of just who Luo was. Mr. Fuxing himself grew up in a rural country village. Estranged from his parents who more or less left him to be raised by his grandparents to pursue better opportunities within China’s
Growing manufacturing industry. Seeking out higher pay and more opportunities in the city. Luo would spend his free time in internet cafes and web surf, and as I said before he would eventually discover Japanese Visual Kei and from there begin his journey to define the identity and name of Shamate.
“To be honest, one of the reasons why I thought shamate was interesting was because everyone would pay attention to me. It was like my father finally noticed my existence. I often had to move around during my childhood and was left
Behind by my parents [who went to the city for better jobs.] They were always busy working, and didn’t have a good relationship. When I was six, I was sent to live with my grandparents.” Now not to go into a whole other tangent but something important to bring up for the context
Of all of this, is that China is very different from the west in terms of domestic migration. Here in America, we can move from state to state with little to no real requirements or restrictions. Simply load up your car or hop on a plane and if you can afford
The fare you can go just about anywhere within country, vagabonding from Colorado to New York, to California to Texas. And if you want to live there, simply find an apartment, and visit the DMV to get your license registered in the state.
This is a far cry from China, where cities and regions in general are held up on tiers. Insert the Hukou system, which, depending on the region you reside, or are just born in. It determines what cities and regions you are legally allowed to live in.
And to make this all the more draconian, Hukou also determines what social media sites you are even allowed to use. Taking region locking to a whole other level. So if you are a farmer from the rural areas of China, and worse off. From a
More looked down upon ethnicity like the Yao people from Guilin or Yi people from Yunnan. You are probably going to be stuck in lower-end cities classed as Tier 1 like Guangdong, a far-cry from a capital such as Beijing. So for someone like Luo,
It’s easy to see why something as simple as colored hair would be so liberating. The Shamate label gave him a sense of identity and freedom, something he needed once he migrated to a city himself and began his life as a factory worker.
“I dropped out of school when I was in seventh grade and went to see my father — who was working in Shenzhen — to look for a job. I worked at hardware factories at first, but they had strict dress codes: I had to tie my hair up during work. And I had very
Little leisure time on weekends to create my own hairstyles. I got spider tattoos on my elbows after I saw [in a movie] that prisoners in America have spider webs that are made bigger the longer they are in jail. I thought that the factory was pretty similar to a prison.”
The profound part of that quote would be “ I thought that the factory was pretty similar to a prison.” Because it was that sentiment alone that would come to encapsulate The Shamate and all those who would find themselves within their ranks. The back-breaking labor for pennies on the
Dollar, the mistreatment and outright hatred for merely being a migrant worker from the country, by people who saw you as little more than a drone to salve away out of sight and out of mind. Once Luo got a taste of the attention and a feeling like he was something more than a drone,
He would begin his mission to raise the Shamate to as high as he possibly could. “People who mock Shamate are probably middle class. By cursing me, they want to show off that they have cars and apartments. People want to vent their anger,
And shamate get caught in the crossfire. These people discriminate against the underclass, but they never stop to think that there must be a reason for this subculture to exist: Moving from the village to the city and starting to work at that young of an age,
I felt isolated. I was weak, but under the guise of shamate I felt strong.” Now to talk about the main event, the people themselves. To put it simply, The Shamate is a subcultural movement that protests not with active riots, violence,
Or even picket signs and bumper sticker slogans. But rather by indulging in a bright, transgressive sense of fashion, and existing in a way that defies the status quo. Now in the Western world, we see pictures like this and instantly
Think. “Ahh man I remember my scene days” Before the creeping sense of shame hits us while an insufferable Brokencyde song worms its way back into our memory. But let’s take the Western-centric view of the world and put it aside for a moment.
Outside the colorful fringe and some blingy Myspace GIFs that decorate their websites and profiles. The similarities between these groups more or less don’t exist. More accurately The Shamate derive much of their spirit and identity from 70s punks from the UK, and the previously mentioned Japanese Visual Kei.
The Shamate’s links to punk really only exist in the fact that they were birthed out of a desire to use artistic and physical expression to stand against what they perceived to be authoritarian abuse and conformity. But like most Western influences,
This was relatively minimal. If you wanted to find links or connections, they are serendipitous at best, if anything just a logical response to conditions of corporate and authoritarian abuse. Visual Kei on the other hand, was a far larger player in what developed the Shamate. As we talked
About in our last section, the look was inspired by Miyavi, but not so much his music or ideology. For those unfamiliar with Visual Kei, it’s a scene of music, more defined by its aesthetics and fashion than the actual sound of the music. Hence why you
Could find bands playing anything from soft alternative rock, to straight-up deathcore. Even the VK aesthetic is pretty varied, from the modern gothic look, to the French aristocratic style of bands like Malice Mizer, or the edgy and dark style of Dir En Grey,
Or even bands outside the realm of Visual Kei that take minor ques from it like Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, who despite putting this out years after the fact and in a country far removed from the scene. Produced the most 2009 video I have ever seen
This was the look that would come to inspire Shamate the most. Adopting the flamboyant and androgynous look, colorful and massive hair, and gaudy garish clothing. The drip if you will, was real. But The Shamate were more than just fashion, they were a lifestyle.
A lifestyle of dance, fashion, family, and becoming kings of the web. The only true parallel that Shamate had with the west’s Scene kids. Was their vapid love of the internet. Taking to social media and chatrooms to share their interests, shoot the shit, and slowly spread themselves across the net.
Just replace Myspace, AOL, and Bebo with Chinese internet forms and QQ Chatrooms. Though, unlike our side of the pond. Most of these corners were more or less walled off. Where you would need to be accepted by the Shamate to enter their domain.
Which brings us to one of the most key and important aspects. The Shamate didn’t operate quite like any other subculture. You couldn’t just listen to the music, dawn the look and head out to Warped Tour or Das Bunker and mingle with the scene. You had to be accepted. The Shamte
Often referred to each other as family, as well as used the word to describe the collective movement. It had a hierarchy to it as well, with people in different positions of importance, power, and influence. And using business titles and strategies to help grow his little empire of hair.
Within the Shamte, meet-ups in shopping districts and parks were encouraged, giving them a unified and public presence. Clashing against the typical scenery and faces to be expected in your average Chinese city Not only was this good for bonding and creating genuine friendships and community,
But it worked as free advertising to anyone who saw them and took an interest. But this was far from the most entertaining aspect of the Shamate. I think the most left-field but interesting aspect is actually the fact that roller skating was a staple
Of their culture. It’s nothing crazy, but just another interesting aspect to see. Along with that they obviously loved to dance, both hosting and attending raves, as well as creating their infamous concrete dance videos that have seen quite a bit of notoriety
Over the years. And that’s another interesting aspect of the Shamate, most subcultures revolve around music, but with them, it was almost strictly fashion. So there was some variety in terms of what they listened too. And while you think they would be bumping Malice Mizer,
Or The Gazzete since they were so inspired by visual kei. The reality is their genre of choice was happy hardcore and some borderline Nightcore kinda stuff. I am sure you are getting the idea now that the Shamate were an eclectic bunch
On every level. And despite the bad rep they received they were more or less harmless. Just an odd-looking group of people who enjoyed playing on the internet, crashing roller rinks, chilling in parks, and showing off some dance moves with concrete.
The labels thrust upon them were all purely done out of spite and disgust of the way they looked, and who they were underneath the makeup and hair. And the bigger their numbers got, the more resentment against them would grow. And after a steady
Growth from 2009 to 2013, the twilight days of the Shamate, would begin to come to a head. Something I have been mentioning throughout this video is that this subculture was something far deeper than simply peacock hair and flashy clothes.
And that’s the tragic reality that this whole thing was born of true unbridled oppression. The clip that just played comes from an eye-opening documentary called “We Were Smart”. Which includes many interviews with the Shamate. The constant between all of them
Was the simple fact that these were kids and teenagers thrust from their rural villages into the big cities. Pressured and sometimes outright forced to get jobs in factories. Working for pitiful wages, and left to rot and struggle until they die. They
Were trapped in a life of poverty and slave-driving. Working 12-18 hour days, producing cheap products for mass consumption, while not even making enough to afford the basics. The necessity to make ends meet would be exacerbated by the deaths and injuries of
Working parents, and these youths would be left with no recourse but a headlong dive into the same conditions that killed their families. That Hokou system I mentioned earlier was a key player in this as well. Why don’t we refer back to the Wall Street Journal video from before.
“In the early 1990s, the People’s Republic of China launched another hukou permit called the “blue-stamp“. This hukou was available to a wider population and allowed residents to legally migrate to larger cities. These cities include China’s Special Economic Zones, which are known as tax havens for foreign investors. Eligibility for this hukou is
Primarily limited to residents with direct relations to local and foreign investors. After joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, China’s hukou system experienced a form of liberation after the country’s agricultural sector was impacted by foreign competition and massive job loss. Regulations surrounding work permits were relaxed to accommodate
This cultural and economic shift.” – What Is the Hukou System in China? So to put it more directly, the reforms of the blueprint incentivised and allowed for the rural people of the farmlands and agricultural centers of China. All thanks
To the need and desire to get as many bodies in factories as possible to pump out products and manufacturing for the Western world. Giving the promise of better opportunities, and prosperity to the already broken down and second-class citizens of rural China.
And one of the other less savory staples of Shamate culture I didnt mention in the previous section was self harm. Now obviously I cant show you these pictures so they will be blurred, and if you really want to see them youll need to
Watch the documentary “we were smart” which is linked in the description. But many shamate would take your typical cuts to another level, going as far as carving hearts, words, and sometimes paragraphs into themselves. And yes, it looks as painful as it sounds.
This trauma isnt something only the Shamate went through, they just happened to be the ones who would try to vocalize their suffering. In an article titled Shamate Speaks from The World of Chinese, it sums up what I am talking about pretty well.
“Bai Feifei, who left home at 15 years old and now works in a beauty salon in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, told the camera that she was depressed, and had been reading online about ways to end her life. Then she thought about another
Woman in the factory who “had her hair in two or three colors, and wore stilettos.” Bai effused, “I could feel the strength of her personality. I was already starting to think: They are free. They are individuals. They were the opposite of my parents. They could do what
They wanted. As I got to know them, I realized, my life was mine to live, even if I was wrong.” It’s clear to see that even something as simple as hair dye and clothing could provide so much to those who have nothing. The Shamate were people who found
Community and belonging with each other. And over-the-top fashion and antics were their way of reclaiming their individuality and the freedom to express themselves. To be something more than just a second-class citizen locked in a factory to die in poverty. In another article written about the Shamate, Luo would be quoted as saying:
“It feels like you’re living in a cage. You don’t know what’s outside, you don’t know anything,” So sure, to the majority of the developed world, seeing people with outlandish and attention-grabbing hairstyles isnt that big of a deal, and more often than not we’ve
Become desensitized to it. But for those trapped working at the suicide net-laden iPhone factory, it’s the little things that matter. Having an online group to blow off steam and play games with after work. Or people to mob around at the roller
Rink and park on your day off makes all the difference in the world. But as we have already established, this wasn’t something that the upper echelon or even the Chinese government would ever truly tolerate. While the first few years of the subculture developing and becoming mainstream were met
With some shock and awe, it didn’t really hit into high gear until the early 2010s. Where come 2013 China would see a lot of its anti-shamate sentiment come to a boiling point. Their online forms were routinely being raided, parodies and mockeries of them would be posted
Onto social media, songs ripping on them would begin to hit radio waves, and overall all the narrative that the Shamate were an open target to direct hatred, and a negative group to have in society at large become the status quo.
There was even a white-collar subculture that was propped up as opposition called “xiaoqingxing.” To put it simply the xiaoqingxing were an inverse of the Shamate. Their name translates to something like “little fresh”. They were white-collar office workers often from the upper middle class, considered elegant, well-traveled,
And educated. A stark contrast to the Shamate’ who were elementary school dropouts who lived in cramped and cheap housing, and were seen as low rent, stupid, and offensive I think the article Stunned, Shattered, Shamate Telling the Story Of China’s Most Hated, says it best.
“Shamate may not have been against the mainstream, but the mainstream was certainly against them. Shamate communities were not just shunned by non-members, but how their safe spaces were actively invaded and its participants relentlessly targeted. Labeled as “underclass style” and “vulgar,” shamate members were subjected to regular
Attacks. Thanks to their blue-collar status and underprivileged rural backgrounds, shamate were seen as socially unacceptable, and went from being the butt of jokes to being deeply despised.” Now just for reference, let’s take a look at what some of these cities that were home to
The Shamte look like How do you think it would feel to live in a place that looks like this, yet you’re the asshole stuck in the fog-infested factory, while the upper-class corpos look down at you from their dirty high rises. High tech, low class, the mantra of cyberpunk. And while you might look
At the Shamate and not instantly see it. They were the internet-savvy dregs living in dystopian cities, oppressed by the upper class. And like with any dystopian cyberpunk story, our protagonist’s lives wouldn’t have the happiest of endings. As all of this public scrutiny and hatred mounted up. So did the
Severity of the harassment. Leading to them being targeted in public, with berating and screaming, and when things got really bad, assault. On the petty level, many anti shamte groups, some including foreign bloggers like the one mentioned in the buzzfeed article. Were taking to the web to infiltrate their chat rooms,
Forums, and other online corners and get into the back end to ban everyone, troll, and cause as much dispersion as they would. There was even a song written about them, guise as a parody, but in reality,
It was just another push from the elites to shame and fan the flames of against the Shamate. On a more serious note, I mentioned assault. And that was a daily reality for the Shamate come the
End of the line. They would often be yelled at or harassed in the streets, and many times beaten and attacked. And if rumors are anything to go off of, some were even killed. And given how much negative
News is censored in China, let alone what’s accessible to us here in the West. It’s honestly hard to tell whether or not any of this happened or even how extreme the harassment they faced was. All we really do know, is it was serious enough to kill off the shamate subculture by the mid-2010s.
With the violence they faced on the streets, the cracking down of hairstyles being allowed in the factories, the already exploitative and back-breaking nature of the work, and the Chinese upper class going out of its way to make their lives a living hell. It would
Ultimately end with Luo, the patriarch himself, chopping off his hair and trying to move on. And while some might think of this as him giving up, it was more than likely, it was a response to the overwhelming pressure he must have felt at the time. Not only did he birth this subculture,
But he reigned over it as its leader. And with more and more violence and hatred being cast upon them as the days passed. Its safe to say he probably felt responsible and wanted to signal to the rest of his adopted family that the jig was up.
The saddest thing about all of this was this wanst some sort of crazy gang, or a mob of people getting up to nefarious or dangerous activities. There only crime was bing who they were. There’s a quote from another article that I think really puts things into perspective.
“They didn’t even have complicated concepts such as resistance or rebellion,” said Li. “They were just a bunch of left-out kids, who snuggled up together for care and warmth.” The truth behind the Shamate is that’s all they were, left behind children coming together to
Find hope and community. But I guess even that was to much for them to hope for. In the years since all this played out and the Shamate were banished from society. As always, these sorts of things find ways to live on. And rather than stick in the shadows of the
Past or the lonely corners of web forums. The Shamate have seen a bit of a rebirth. While not exactly taking shape and form the same way they did in their heyday. This new neo-Shamate class has started to build its own niche, taking the VK-laden inspirations from
The past. And crossing it with Kpop sensibilities and less over-the-top but still flamboyant style. While there are still nay-sayers, and yea, this shit makes the round on TikTok. It’s still extremely endearing to see, and good to know that the light that Lou once sparked,
Is still shining bright for a new generation to come. And if this and the handful of other videos about them have anything to say, it’s that their influence and legacy are finally starting to see some recognition out here in the West.
The Shamate may have had a short-lived and tumultuous existence. And from an outside perspective an over-the-top and garish look. They represent how something as simple as some clothes and hair day can make such an impactful statement. Lighting a beacon of hope for people
Whose hopes had been crushed by the weight of society that left them to rot in factories. And giving them a community and family for those who lost all hope (insert clip). Now before I log off, let me just shill for a second, these are my glorious puppets,
My generous pay pigs. The people kind enough to support my content and give me their hard-earned money to help me keep the lights on and make this content free for everyone. I am eternally grateful, and if you would like to see your name on this
Wall of shame and bad financial decisions. Support me on Patreon or buy me a Kofi. I couldn’t thank you enough and I am truly grateful for all the support. But with that being said, subscribe, follow me on Twitter, and I’ll see you in the next video.
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