China’s Taikoo Li Shopping Trend: Imitating Social Events and the Controversial Fashion Craze

Hu Jiyong, a senior official of a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, went shopping hand in hand with his lover in Chengdu, sparking heated discussions on the Internet, and also led to several Internet trends. In addition to a large number of netizens imitating the costumes of the parties and going to Taikoo Li, Chengdu, where the incident took place, and taking street photos from the same angle as the parties, forming a trend of imitating social events, the clothes worn by the female party Dong Sijin have also become popular on the Internet. Sales surged more than 30 times compared to before the incident broke out.

The incident of Hu Jiyong, a senior official of China National Petroleum Corporation Engineering subsidiary, and his young female colleague being photographed while shopping in Taikoo Li, Chengdu sparked heated discussions on the Internet. Hu Jiyong was dismissed immediately. Rich sexy photos, her clothing, personal background and Chengdu Taikoo Li have become hot topics, and even set off a trend of netizens going to Chengdu Taikoo Li to imitate the two parties to take street photos. This trend of imitating social events on the Internet has a strong sense of irony , using the dramatic tension of social events to highlight the rebellious satirical social psychology.

Chengdu Taikoo Li was originally a project of mainland commercial real estate developer Swire Properties. Adjacent to the historic Daci Temple and the busiest Chunxi Road business district in the area, it is an open shopping center in the form of a block, adopting a modern interpretation of the traditional architectural style. Interlaced with the streets that retain the historical atmosphere, it has become a popular local commercial and leisure area. All kinds of men and women show luxurious or strange costumes on the street, and many Internet celebrities also gather here to do live broadcasts or street photos. In addition to Chengdu, Swire Properties also has similar real estate development projects in Beijing and Shanghai.

After the topic of Hu Jiyong shopping with his lover broke out, it not only attracted the media and Internet celebrities to chase and report on the scene, but also triggered a wave of citizens imitating this romantic social event. Street photography, and a large number of photos shared on the Internet, prove that the iron law of the Internet that only asks about traffic, regardless of connotation and taste is unbreakable.

And because there are so many imitators, the pink one-piece dress worn by Dong Sijin has also quickly become popular in shopping malls and shopping websites, regardless of whether they imitate the street photos of Hu Dong and the two.

According to Lu media, the same dress that Dong Sijin was wearing at that time became popular on the Internet afterwards, and more than 6,000 pieces were sold in just a few days. This one-piece dress was designed by two women born in the 1990s, “Chen Yangyang” and “De Meng” (both pseudonyms), and it was launched two years ago at a price of 618 yuan (approximately NT$2,660). Before the incident broke out, only more than 200 pieces were sold in total. As the incident fermented, the sales volume surged to 30 times that of more than two years in two or three days. Two designers said that more than 6 years of hard work has finally paid off, not only urgently adding orders and replenishing goods, but even mobilizing relatives and friends to help rush out the goods.

Lu Media also pointed out that this Internet celebrity dress has suddenly become popular, and many problems have followed. Many merchants have launched counterfeit models with a price of only tens of RMB. Labels make many customers feel unlucky and give up the idea of ​​buying. Meng, the designer, said that although some achievements have been made temporarily, there are still many challenges, such as high return rate and loss rate, counterfeit product infringement, etc., and it is difficult to defend rights.There are a lot of orders now, but the proportion of temporary orders is not low