日批在线视频_内射毛片内射国产夫妻_亚洲三级小视频_在线观看亚洲大片短视频_女性向h片资源在线观看_亚洲最大网

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語(yǔ)Fran?ais
Opinion
Home / Opinion / China and the World Roundtable

Emotional economy no passing fad

By Li Juncheng | China Daily | Updated: 2025-04-28 06:11
Share
Share - WeChat
MA XUEJING/CHINA DAILY

In an age of material abundance, a quiet consumer revolution is reshaping the shopping carts of China's younger generations. The rise of bizarrely popular items — from viral green plants named "ban banana greenness" ("banana green" sounds like "anxiety" in Chinese, a reminder to stay calm and not overthink) to "a bag of garbage" (a novelty stress relief toy), from the blind box craze to the widespread demand for dazi (a casual friendship offering scenario-based companionship, such as meal or studying) — signals a deeper trend: the steady ascent of the emotional economy. As utilitarian consumption gives way to emotional experience, a transformation driven by feelings is redefining the foundations of China's consumer market.

Traditionally, price-performance and utility defined the worth of a product. But for today's young consumers, shopping is no longer merely transactional — it's existential. Buying is as much about "who I am" as "what I need".

T-shirts emblazoned with the "lying flat" slogan, quirky "ugly-cute" cultural products, and merchandise tied to virtual idols offer little practical function but immense emotional resonance. These objects speak not to utility, but to identity, validation and relief.

The late sociologist Zygmunt Bauman's theory of liquid modernity helps explain this shift. In a society where traditional social bonds are eroding and life feels increasingly unstable, people seek lightweight emotional anchors. Objects such as blind boxes or stress-relief toys become affordable emotional surrogates — providing not only distraction, but a fleeting sense of control in an uncertain world. Even the humble Ban Banana Greenness plant, by playing on a pun, becomes an emotional talisman more than a botanical specimen.

In essence, emotional consumption marks a shift from owning to feeling. Young people are using consumer behavior to craft a personal emotional vocabulary.

Two key trends are shaping the emotional economy's frontier: healing consumption and function-based socializing, often dubbed social dazi.

The healing consumption provides direct emotional healing through goods and services, creating a controllable and predictable emotional haven for consumers. For example, immersive experience centers create virtual emotional scenes through technological means, allowing consumers to briefly escape from reality; The healing space utilizes techniques such as aromatherapy and sound therapy to provide a solution for physical and mental relaxation.

The rise of social dazi reflects the digitization of companionship. In contrast to traditional relationships, these connections are modular and purpose-driven: movie dazi, gym dazi, or dinner dazi. Think of them as plug-and-play social units — low-stakes, goal-oriented, and emotionally bounded.

While these trends differ in form, they share a common function: converting emotional needs into marketable experiences.

At its core, emotional consumption relies on the creation and transmission of symbols. Consider anime merchandise: a metal pin bearing a beloved character can sell hundreds of thousands of units — not because of the pin itself, but because of the emotional projection it enables. Museum gift shops, once stuffy and niche, now sell artifacts that let young people wear their cultural identity with playful pride.

On the other side, the emotional economy is driving cross-sector convergence. As feelings become a currency, industries from art and tech to mental health are fusing into new hybrids. Creative industries are developing emotionally intelligent digital art; mental wellness startups are launching AI-powered emotion trackers.

Still, the commercialization of emotion is not without peril. When emotional needs are overly packaged and monetized, there is a risk of alienation — of replacing real connection with consumer proxies.

Emotionally charged consumption reflects the profound cultural and psychological undercurrents in modern Chinese society. As products become symbols and experiences replace ownership, the consumer landscape is morphing into something far more personal, and far more symbolic.

This is a deep reflection of China's consumption upgrading — when material abundance meets emotional awakening, consumption is no longer a simple transactional behavior, but has become a medium for individuals to communicate with the world. Navigating this terrain will require balancing commercial innovation with human sensitivity. After all, the most powerful economies are not just built on capital — but on connection.

The author is an associate researcher at the Institute of Finance and Banking, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

If you have a specific expertise, or would like to share your thought about our stories, then send us your writings at opinion@chinadaily.com.cn, and comment@chinadaily.com.cn.

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 加勒比婷婷色综合久久 | 欧美日韩中文在线 | 女人十八毛片水真多 | 成人a级片 | 先锋成人资源 | 围产精品久久久久久久 | 精品国产精品国产偷麻豆 | 国产手机在线 | 99视频免费 | 日韩在线网址 | 国产精品一区二区三区四区 | 欧美肥老妇 | 色老汉av一区二区三区 | 1024香蕉| 成年人在线视频 | 二区三区在线视频 | 成人性生交大片免费看r链接 | 国产视频一区在线 | 黄色片网站免费看 | 免费中文字幕视频 | 91麻豆精品一二三区在线 | 天堂8在线视频 | 欧美一级免费大片 | 久久国产片 | 99色精品| 欧美国产第一页 | 黄色aaa视频 | 羞羞答答网 | 亚洲一区二区美女 | 精品视频一区二区三区在线观看 | 欧美第四页| 亚洲国产视频网站 | 国产在线观看a | 爱爱中文字幕 | 日韩欧美区 | 日韩精品久久久久久 | 一级二级三级黄色片 | 黄色香蕉视频在线观看 | 99在线观看 | 91杏吧porn蝌蚪| 神马久久久久久久久久 |