Accidental Chinese Hipsters

In a small town between Quanzhou and Xiamen, Fujian Province a man becomes his own mobile vintage resale shop. The hands-free cigarette is the crowning sign of his expert Chinese entrepreneurship.

Photo by Zoe Elizabeth Noyes.

Dear Readers,

I negligently allowed my one year anniversary with you go by without a special post. On May 10th, 2011, I started Accidental Chinese Hipsters, and have since received pictures from and corresponded with amazing and diverse people from all over the world. Lesson learned: Chinese culture is everywhere. Except for maybe in the Middle East, Africa and Antarctica (I eagerly await emails to the contrary). Finding this community has been a great blessing for me, and I look forward to the wonderful and surprising things that this forum will produce in the future.

And so, for your entertainment and my humiliation, here is a picture of me at the Ocean Park theme park in Hong Kong. Every awkward detail is totally authentic 10-year-old half Chinese kid garb. High waisted jean shorts because those were still normal at the time. Un-ironic Taos shirt given to me by my mother, some of my first cool, grown-up clothes. A necklace with a replica of an old Chinese coin on it that my grandmother bought for me from an illegal street vendor, who, as they were interrupted by an approaching policeman mid haggle, secreted his wares inside the cardboard box that served as his merch table. Following the example of my always prim and dignified grandmother, I acted as if nothing was happening between us an the incredibly tan man with the shabby box. Just having a nice conversation here, Officer. I think my grandmother was also trying to fix up my tomboy hair with that barrette. Last but not least, the oversized glasses were my first pair, chosen by me for their close resemblance to my dad’s glasses. They fell off my face a lot in gym class.

Behind me is a replica of an old style Chinese bedroom. The park also had terrifying carnival rides that my dad convinced me to go on while he stood on the ground eating candy. It was a special trip: the first time that my dad went to Hong Kong to visit relatives with just me as his companion.

Thanks to my mom, Ruth Kuo, for sending me this and several other photos from what she esteems to be my most proto-hipster phase.

It is all of a sudden so hot that I can’t blog from my own (un-a-conned) home. Today’s ACH comes to you from a damn cafe. I’m listening to Jackie Mittoo’s rendition of Summer Breeze on repeat and wishing I was in the place that lives inside this man’s getup. I would also accept being in the place where he is standing, in front of the Merlion monument in Singapore. I would furthermore be content to be a merlion, that’s a half lion/half fish, if that meant that I could be swimming in water right now.

Thanks to James from New Zealand who sent this in.

Now go get that tattooed on your calves, Brooklyn, why don’t you.

Someone please put this man on the cover of W magazine immediately. It’s as if Megan Draper did a Freaky Friday body switch with a greasy Chinese parking lot attendant and decided not to lower her dressing standards. It’s like Margaret Cho’s impression of Kim Jong-il came to life and ran away. It’s… can I have that jacket?
The man is, in fact, the security guard at Christie Miller’s apartment complex in Xujiahui, Shanghai, and she claims that his “Gucci clutch” and “Zack Morris cell phone” make her feel “so safe.” Her brother, Kalifa Dong, took this photo. I hope that it is the first of many.

Hey, now I want to dress up like the kid from the Tin Drum too. Riffing off a child icon has got to be a great style trick. Not necessarily a character meant to entertain children, just thinking about hordes of crop-topped, mature-bodied Pippi Longstockings is stomach churning, but one that has that off kilter, tiny adult appeal. Such as thus.

Taken near Broadway, Sydney, Australia by Ania.

It’s been a rough week. Don’t worry! You can take a little “me” break.

Spotted by Danielle at the VanDusen Botanical Garden (Vancouver BC).

Class, as seen in a Taipei night market.

Photo by Sean Marc Lee. For more deftly captured Taiwanese ephemera visit his tumblr.

San Francisco is a Wonderland and these girls (“half-Chinese, duh” -their older sister and photographer) are like twin Alices in the moment of meeting the Caterpillar. In his hand he holds a Mandarin orange, not to eat or to consider, but as an extension of his person. Part Buddha, part explosion at a craft store, our sloppy mystic exists on a higher, slightly uneven plane that we only mistakenly perceive to be a city bus on the Chinatown route.

He could be the nephew of the Best Dressed Man in the World. I see the same flair for color layering, hopefully a strong genetic trait, with a bit still to be desired in the presentation department. Although, to his credit as an individual, somewhere in there appears to be a necklace made of potholder loops. Even hipsters of the most iron constitutions might not have that kind of courage. 

Photos by Catherine Beadles, March 2012.

Spring is here! Spring is here! Put on your socks and sandals because spring is here!

Crocs and sandals,

socks and sandals,

crocks envy socks with high heel sandals.

Johannes took this photo in July 2011 in the Shanghai Metro, Line 8.

Let’s layer up some colors, hunch ourselves in a headless, Nick Cave soundsuit, sort of way, and go on a coupon safari!

Carman Chan from Vancouver, Canada says she saw this granny maintain her pose for a good couple of minutes, and advises that there are no coupons to be found in the Chinese newspapers. I must say I’ve known many Chinese people to enthusiastically pursue a bargain, but not a one to use coupons. Maybe it seems like a waste of time when all the food at the Chinese grocery store is already half as expensive as other places, and when you can just relentlessly ask for discounts in person. Or maybe I’m just stereotyping. On this site? No way!