I blogged the other day about how someone bought the Chinese translation rights to "Totally Wired" (yay!) so I was especially interested in this press release summarizing Pearl Research's recent market research on Chinese youth ages 16-19. The research is based on "360 points of contact including 90 in-depth one-on-one interviews across both first- and second-tier cities in China and more than 270 online survey respondents." Here are the highlights:

China has 320 million young people between the ages of 16 and 30. Rising incomes, growing urbanization and an economy that has grown 10% annual from 1979 to 2006, have resulted in a consumer boom in China. Young people are the largest group of Internet users with people ages 25 or younger representing 50% of the 162 million Internet users in China. Pearl Research estimates this demographic have $135 billion in spending power...

Chinese youth are avid tech adopters citing online chatting and online gaming as top leisure activities

More than 90% of Pearl Research's interview panel had played either an online or packaged game before. The youth interviewed in the study were heavy Internet users and said that online games and various chatting services such as Tencent's QQ, Microsoft's MSN and Ebay's Skype provided a venue for them to meet, flirt and make friends.

The most popular games cited by the panel were World of Warcraft from Blizzard, Audition from 9you, Kart Rider from Nexon and Fantasy Westward Journey from Netease. [WOW was cited as the most popular western title]

Chinese females prefer casual games

Compared to male gamers who preferred playing core games, female gamers cited causal games such as Nexon's Kart Rider, 9you's Audition and Tencent's casual games on QQ as their favorites. Female gamers particularly enjoyed purchasing virtual items and clothes for their avatars as a way to express themselves.

Chinese youth are receptive to international influences and brands

Urban Chinese youth are generally receptive to international influences enjoying foreign movies, brands and other products from Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong and the West. International brands such as Nike, Louis Vuitton, Sony and Nokia were among the favorite brands mentioned by Chinese youth in the survey. Korean movies such as My Sassy Girl and Korean musicians such as Rain were also popular with Chinese youth.

Musical tastes evolving to include rock and hip hop

Rock music was always popular in China's larger cities but now hip-hop and R&B are growing in popularity, as Western influences spread in China. Western musicians such as Coldplay, Britney Spears, Linkin Park, and Eminem were cited as favorites by Chinese youth in our panel.

Activities such as car racing, yoga and skiing are becoming increasingly popular

Chinese youth are enjoying increasing access to new activities such as car racing, yoga, traveling and skiing, which were not available to the previous generations due to their lower income levels. Chinese youth are eager to embrace new experiences as part of a lifestyle shift that emphasizes attaining personal happiness and self-development.

The research also profiles a subculture of drag racers that save up their salaries, modify their cars and set up races throughout Beijing. This group of racers is being courted by international advertisers including car, packaged goods and PC manufacturers, eager to connect with a group of influencers.

Urban slang develops in China

Pearl Research has compiled urban slang popularized used by Chinese youth including terms such as "to go fishing" which is to pick up girls, "to go backdoor" which is to get something through connections, and "ticket holder" which means someone who is wealthy.

Posted by anastasia