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infoshakil260 · 11 months ago

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Mainland’s new consumption is copied to Hong Kong

Now, if consumers take to the streets of Hong Kong, they may find some common mainland catering brands appearing in their field of vision, including some common mainland coffee, new tea and other brands. So, what opportunities and challenges may catering brands and new consumer brands face when they enter the Hong Kong market at this time? Let’s take a look at the interpretation and analysis of this article.

If you walk on the streets of Hong HE Tuber Kong, China recently, you will notice some changes: Shanghai's cost-effective specialty coffee brand Manner, Guangdong's new tea brands such as Lin Xiangning and Tea Save the Planet, and Maozhua BBQ originated from Beijing, all have sprung up here. came out.

And, not surprisingly, in Hong Kong this year, you can also eat common mainland restaurant brands such as Xita Old Lady, Taier Pickled Fish, and Meet Xiao Noodles.

Before, it was not easy to eat a "Mainland chain home-cooked meal" in Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong, known as the "Gourmet Capital of the World", there is no shortage of Chinese food brands. But whether they are traditional Chinese restaurants, chain restaurants or mom-and-pop shops, most of them were born in Hong Kong. In recent years, for many people, the memories of mainland catering brands of a certain scale entering Hong Kong are still in 2017 when Haidilao opened a store in Yau Ma Tei, and in 2018 when Heytea opened in Shatin.

Compared with Hong Kong's "unchanged" catering market, in the past few years, new mainland consumer brands have emerged one after another and are also sought after by Hong Kong consumers. During the epidemic lockdown, Hong Kong people’s enthusiasm for consumption even spawned a wave of “reverse purchasing” from Shenzhen to Hong Kong.

Unlike in the past, mainland consumers purchased luxury goods and beauty products from Hong Kong. The targets of "reverse purchasing" are mainly new mainland consumer brand products, ranging from Master Bao pastries and Yidiandian milk tea to grilled fish, pickled fish, coconut chicken, etc. Become a popular food on the purchasing list.

After Hong Kong cleared customs this year, Hong Kong people were finally able to "travel northward and abroad" and unleashed their strong enthusiasm for new mainland consumer brands in Shenzhen, across the river. "On weekends, the shopping malls near Futian and Luohu Ports in Shenzhen are crowded with Hong Kong people coming to spend money." Wang Lin, a Shenzhen resident, said with emotion.

"Many delicacies are not available in Hong Kong, so I want to try something new. Moreover, mainland restaurants are very cost-effective. Similar food and drinks are often half the price in Hong Kong, and the service quality is also good." Hong Kong consumer Guo Zhijun often goes to Shenzhen to check out various delicacies. explain.

For some mainland catering brands, what they value when entering the Hong Kong market is not only the enthusiasm of local consumers. During the epidemic, Hong Kong's catering and retail industries suffered setbacks, and the rents of some shops were almost cut in half. Now, with the rapid recovery of the catering industry, "low rent" has become an important reason for brands to deploy in the Hong Kong market.

1. Mainland catering enters Hong Kong, led by coffee and new tea drinks

In January this year, Manner opened its first store in Hong Kong at the World Trade Center in Causeway Bay, becoming the first mainland coffee brand to open a store in Hong Kong.

In recent years, the mainland coffee market has been in full swing. A number of local cost-effective coffee brands have emerged, shaking the status of foreign coffee giants in the past. Now that Manner has entered Hong Kong, many netizens are discussing whether it will change the coffee market pattern in Hong Kong.

The storefront and product LOGO of Manner's first store in Hong Kong was changed to Maners Coffee. According to the owner Sun Hung Kai, the reason for the name change was that the original trademark could not be registered.

The menu in the Maners coffee shop shows a total of 9 types of coffee drinks. Among them, the cheapest ones are espresso and Americano, with a single cup priced at only 20 Hong Kong dollars (approximately RMB 18.3). The price of other types of milk coffee is generally more than 30 Hong Kong dollars, and is divided into two sizes: large cups and small cups. . The most expensive product in the store is the oatmeal and osmanthus latte, priced at HK$45 for a large cup.

In comparison, a cup of Americano coffee in Manner's mainland stores costs 15 yuan, and ordinary milk coffee costs about 15 to 20 yuan, which is much lower than the Hong Kong version of Maners.

But in Hong Kong, where prices are relatively high, Maners coffee can still be called “affordable coffee.” Maners' store is located in the World Trade Center in Causeway Bay. In a Starbucks coffee shop also located in Causeway Bay, the price of the smallest cup of Americano is HK$35, almost twice that of Maners.

“Holding the 20 Hong Kong dollar American style, I was so moved that I almost shed tears.” A netizen left a message on Openrice, the Hong Kong version of Dianping.

But when it comes to the taste of coffee, the few comments from netizens show that the reviews are not high.

“If you happen to be passing by and want to find a place to rest, you can, but if you come to check in, no need!”

"The latte was terrible, too much milk, I think McDonald's coffee is better than this."

Hong Kong’s coffee culture is far more popular than that in the Mainland. One data shows that Hong Kong people drink an average of about 250 cups of coffee per year, which is much higher than the mainland's average of 7.2 cups per year. Driven by demand, a large number of chain and independent coffee shops have spread across Hong Kong, and Hong Kong people have higher standards for judging the taste of coffee.

It’s just Maners’ “super cost-effectiveness” that makes Hong Kong consumers more tolerant of their tastes——

“Considering the price is cheap, overall it’s pretty good!”

"In these large shopping malls, coffee priced under 20 yuan is really rare, so my expectations are certainly not too high."

For several mainland hand-made lemon tea brands such as Lin Xiang Ning, Tea Save the Planet, and Ning Meng Meng, the average price of a cup of lemon tea in Hong Kong is more than 30 Hong Kong dollars, and the cheapest one basically costs 28 Hong Kong dollars. Compared with local milk tea shops in Hong Kong, this price does not have much advantage, and is much more expensive than Taiwanese chain milk tea shops such as Coco, Gong Cha, and Tenren Tea.

In addition to several catering brands that have opened their first stores in Hong Kong, others planning to enter Hong Kong this year include Taier Pickled Fish and Meet Xiao Noodles.

"I heard that Taier Pickled Fish is coming to Hong Kong. I must check in as soon as possible." said Huang Xu, a Hong Kong resident. The last time he ate Tai Er Pickled Fish was in 2020. After queuing for several hours in Shenzhen, he only ate it at 10pm. “I miss these hot and sour flavors from the Mainland. It will be much more convenient if I can eat it in Hong Kong in the future.”

2. Young people in Hong Kong need new consumption

In fact, Hong Kong does not lack high-quality Chinese food brands.

As an international city where Chinese and Western cultures and talents blend, Hong Kong not only has more authentic Western, Japanese, Southeast Asian and other global cuisines, but also has a very diverse selection of Chinese food. Chinese food from Chinese restaurants to affordable shops covers Cantonese, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Hunan, Beijing and other local cuisines in the mainland, including a number of Chinese restaurants that have won Michelin stars.

In daily consumption scenarios, affordable mainland-style restaurants are a major choice for many Hong Kong residents to meet their three meals a day. Most of these chain stores or mom-and-pop Chinese restaurants specialize in certain regional delicacies, such as Yunnan-Guizhou rice noodles, Sichuan hot and sour noodles, Chongqing noodles, Northeastern dumplings, etc. Although the price of a serving of noodles and dumplings is much higher than in the mainland. , but generally only within HK$50.

Most of these chain restaurants or mom-and-pop restaurants were born in Hong Kong. It is relatively rare for those catering brands that first became famous in the mainland and then entered the Hong Kong market. For example, restaurants with obvious regional characteristics in their names, such as Hangzhou Restaurant and Sijie Sichuan Cuisine, are actually independent brands founded by mainlanders coming to Hong Kong. They have low degree of chaining and high consumer prices, but their business is booming.

In addition, Putian, a chain restaurant that specializes in Fujian cuisine, is actually a catering brand from Singapore; and a restaurant called "Chu Shi San Lao Tan Pickled Fish" was opened in Hong Kong by the American team of Taier Pickled Fish. Openrice shows that it has opened six stores in Hong Kong.

There are also some mainland catering groups that have entered the Hong Kong market earlier, but most of them are restaurant-type stores, such as Suzhehui, Xiaonanguo, etc., which are more suitable for business dinners and other scenes, and cannot fully adapt to the new generation of young people in Hong Kong’s consumption philosophy.

"It is said that Hong Kong is the gourmet capital of the world, but after working and living in Hong Kong for many years, I actually feel that the food choices are monotonous and boring." said Wang Jing, a white-collar worker who has lived in Hong Kong for more than ten years. Across the country in Shenzhen, Hong Kong food is a bit "unchanged". In the past few years, beef hot pot, coconut chicken, crayfish, new tea drinks, Chinese bakery and other categories have become popular in the mainland. If we want to eat, we basically have to go to Shenzhen to check in. .”

Before the epidemic, Shenzhen was one of the first choices for many Hong Kong people to spend weekends. In terms of food choices, from coconut chicken, crayfish, pickled fish, Sichuan red oil hot pot, spicy hot pot, barbecue to new tea drinks, not only the categories are diverse, but also meet the needs of consumers for early adopters, and the prices are also advantageous compared to Hong Kong.

"A few days ago, I bought a cup of the most common honey green tea at a Hong Kong milk tea shop for 28 Hong Kong dollars, and then paid an additional 4 yuan to add pearls; and a cup of peach fruit tea I drank in Shenzhen on the weekend only cost 14 yuan." Hong Kong consumption Guo Zhijun said.

32 Hong Kong dollars compared to 14 yuan, it is enough to show that the new tea drinks in the mainland are very cost-effective, and they have various toppings added, and there are more choices.

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verycharismaticdragon · 3 years ago

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TYK/SHL comparisons, final cut

So, several months and about ten posts of refining my thoughts later, I think I’m finally ready to write up a proper comparative analysis of Tian Ya Ke and Shan He Ling, the original novel and the TV show adaptation.

The changes between the two are numerous, but not all of them are equally important; I think we can all agree that it doesn’t much matter whether Zhang family’s martial school is called South River Manor or Mirror Lake Sect, and there are many similar small tweaks that don't affect anything. At the same time, there are several alterations so impactful that, taken together, they pretty much change the shape of the story.

Broadly speaking, there are two key areas of difference: story structure, and the relationship between the main couple*; most of the changes seem to align with (or follow from) either one or the other.

–––––––––– * preemptive tl;dr: this is not about c/nsorship. ––––––––––

Structural changes

Articles have been written on how SHL fits into the wuxia genre, how it's a homage and a love letter to it; many have recognized the tropes and the staples it uses. And TYK also exists within the same genre – except it is a subversion of the very same tropes and staples.

Zhang Chengling has ‘the protagonist’s backstory’: his family is murdered and he now has to train under a mysterious master to avenge them. SHL leans into the archetype, plays it up by making Zhang Chengling an heir to, like, four different martial schools (also a popular protagonist trope), and adds a subplot with Zhang Chengling hiding a piece of Lapis Armor, giving him more agency in the story. TYK, on the other hand, focuses on the fact that Zhang Chengling is only fourteen, a sheltered child who knows nothing, thrown into stormy waters he is in no way prepared to navigate; draws attention to how the societal pressure to carry his family’s legacy and seek revenge nearly breaks him – it takes the genre's staple motivation and asks, okay, but what does this do to a person psychologically?

Wen Kexing’s story in the novel is an exploration of the same question, but from a different perspective: he is the person who dedicated his everything to the goal of getting revenge, and when he achieves it in the finale… it doesn’t make him happy, it doesn’t undo twenty years of cutting away at his humanity (meeting Zhou Zishu, making a family with him and Chengling, on the other hand…). After killing Zhao Jing, he literally stands in the middle of the battlefield dissociating, because surprise, all of the trauma is still there even when the enemy is gone! SHL takes different approach to Wen Kexing’s revenge, drawing the line between his original ‘villainous’ plan and a socially acceptable (by setting’s standards) vengeance he eventually achieves. Show's Wen Kexing gets to bring his enemy down publicly, in a duel of martial artists – part of it must’ve been that the show couldn’t portray Wen Kexing’s revenge as too grey, too amoral, but the fact that Wen Kexing feels satisfied with the resolution alone ensures that the show does not make the same point as the novel.

(cont. under cut)

Another staple SHL leaned into and TYK subverted: remember the scene in episode 32, where Zhou Zishu stands with Wen Kexing against all of jianghu? It is a classic scene of the ‘righteous’ half of the couple defending their unorthodox partner, and it does not exist in the novel… well, for WenZhou. In the novel, the couple that follows this trope is actually XiangNing: Gu Xiang is outed as a Ghost in front of all, and Cao Weining takes her side… except this romantic scene turns into a scene of murder, as Cao Weining immediately gets brutally killed for doing so. In the world that doesn’t follow genre conventions, their love is not rewarded by getting to be together against all odds in the end.

I went over the entire family sans Zhou Zishu, an actual protagonist of the novel: that is because choosing him as a main character is a subversion in itself. He is a side character – literally so in Qi Ye, but you’ll notice that in every relationship of his, the other party would make a more likely protagonist. With Helian Yi, a crown prince trying to save the country, Zhou Zishu is his subordinate who does all of the immoral acts so that the prince’s character remains clean; with Liang Jiuxiao, a passionate and righteous young hero, Zhou Zishu is his idealized shixiong who turns out to be not who Jiuxiao thought he was. He is Zhang Chengling’s mysterious shifu whose backstory is only hinted at; Wen Kexing’s love interest who is barely involved with the ‘main plot’; an older friend in Cao Weining’s and Gu Xiang’s story who by accident helps them meet, and sometimes gives advice… but TYK is about him. You know those background characters who sometimes seem almost more interesting than the protagonist(s)? TYK takes exactly such background character and makes him a center of the story, and many narrative choices naturally follow from that: of course Zhou Zishu is utterly uninterested in jianghu affairs and has no personal stake in them, aside from people he meets and becomes begrudgingly endeared to – in a classic story, he would be a member of the protagonist’s party who joined on the basis of personal feelings (which feelings depends on who you choose as a protagonist here, obviously) and not for some goal of his own.

SHL had to compensate for that setup to fit Zhou Zishu into their version of the tale; for example, the addition of Four Seasons Manor and Prince Jin subplots helps tie him into the plot of the show, making him care for jianghu affairs beyond mild curiosity (and sometimes irritation) he considers them with in the novel.

You will notice I say ‘plot of the show’: that is because jianghu politics and the hunt for Lapis Armor are merely a background subplot in the novel, happening half-outside of the story. The fight over the position of a leader of the martial arts world and the chase after a secret manual of peerless techniques are also both wuxia staples: SHL pays them attention accordingly, giving them spotlight – complete with the protagonist being the one to get said secret manual even. TYK, on the other hand, posits that both of those pursuits are utterly pointless – hammering the point home by revealing, in the end, that the Lapis Armor key was destroyed by Wen Kexing prior to the events of the story.

Even the way SHL focuses on the past, on repaying generational debts and righting past wrongs, follows from it moving closer to wuxia roots; TYK, for its part, is all for letting go of the old.

As you can see, a number of changes to the plot and characterization is tied to this shift in approach to genre. And those changes, in turn, lead to others: for one, half of the novel’s thematic framework ended up incompatible with the show. Changing up Rong Changqing's and Rong Xuan’s stories, as well as opening the Armory, takes away from the theme of worthlessness of power. Luo Fumeng’s and (eventually) Wen Kexing’s willingness to stay in the Ghost Valley muddles the theme of seeking freedom; so does the narrative punishing Liu Qianqiao for choosing to let go of the past. The focus on legacies – rebuilding Four Seasons Manor for Zhou Zishu, becoming an heir to multiple schools for Chengling – goes against both. To say nothing of the immortal mountain ending…

The show, of course, builds its own set of themes to replace those, exploring debts both of gratitude and of revenge varieties, for example, and bringing up atonement and righteous conduct, topics the novel deliberately does not engage with – and this is just surface-level stuff, I’m sure there’s a more in-depth analysis of SHL’s themes somewhere in the fandom.

But the point is: starting with the approach to genre and continuing with the themes explored, the plot’s focus, and characterization details, numerous changes were made between the source material and the adaptation. Despite following the same outline (at least until the last quarter of the show), the structure of the story was rebuilt near-completely – considering the volume of changes, perhaps it is more apt to call them two stories, even.

–––––––––– Previous meta this section is built on:

Zhang Chengling’s New Year reflections, and thoughts on Zhang Chengling’s arc in general

addition to “Morality shift in SHL, and how it affected WenZhou dynamic”

TYK’s and SHL’s main plots are not the same

Leaving or returning: TYK, SHL, and their differing approaches to the past

worthlessness of power as one of TYK’s central themes

––––––––––

Changes to WenZhou dynamic

But then again, the story isn’t everything; we are talking about danmei after all, and the genre centers romance. Speaking for myself, even though I do like the novel’s setup better in comparison, all I wanted from the show was, well, more WenZhou, now in color – as much as it was possible accounting for limitations, obviously.

And in the beginning, the dynamic is indeed very close – surprisingly close even, considering how blatantly the show portrays Wen Kexing’s early flirting. Yet, over the course of the story, the changes add up – and looking at the whole picture, the show’s couple ended up having barely anything in common with their novel counterparts. Not for the scenes that couldn’t pass the c/nsorship, to be clear; I’m talking about the way the dynamic was overhauled on a fundamental level.

The key aspect of WenZhou relationship in the novel is their mutual understanding; it is established during their first meeting, the sunbathing scene, and remains a constant throughout the novel. It is not that their relationship is without challenges: between their strong personalities, respective trust issues, and Zhou Zishu’s rapidly approaching death, there’s enough to maintain tension throughout the whole text, – it is just that miscommunication isn’t among those challenges. There are even a few scenes where opportunity for conflict arises, only for the characters to guess each other’s motives and keep on as usual. That mutual understanding becomes the very core of the relationship, the reason neither can let go of the other. Before they meet, both are deeply lonely – and suddenly there’s someone who understands them with barely a few words, someone who can keep up with them both intellectually and in a fight, someone with the same moral compass (lack thereof, mostly), a kindred soul, an equal… If they were any less compatible, would anything stop Zhou Zishu from disappearing into the sunset and continuing his journey towards death, putting Wen Kexing’s mystifying flirting out of his mind forever? And would Wen Kexing be willing to suffer the pain of losing someone he loves, again?

Like I said, initially the show’s dynamic appears to be set up the same way. However, as early as episode 9, divergences begin to crop up, starting with a dramatic 'break-up' over a question of morality. Understandably, the show did not have the freedom to portray the characters as amoral and unrepentant (the way they are in the novel); however, when plot points highlighting Wen Kexing’s ‘villainy’ – that Zhou Zishu can then emotionally renounce – are show-only additions, it begins to feel like a deliberate decision to change up the dynamic. Same with ‘break-ups’ and miscommunications: some of them even overwrite the novel scenes to feature confrontations that weren’t there originally.

As a result, by the final episodes, it is near-impossible to see the show’s and the novel’s main couples as iterations of the same ship. Novel’s couple are two people with similar morals; neither would hold the other’s crimes against them, as their own hands are just as bloody. Show’s couple instead sticks to the ‘righteous x unorthodox’ relationship archetype, complete with Zhou Zishu standing by Wen Kexing against all jianghu, and Wen Kexing changing his ways with Zishu’s influence. Novel’s couple are well in sync, understanding each other’s thoughts and motives; despite their love for bickering and roughhousing, they never had a serious falling out. Show’s couple are softer in words and actions when things are good between them, but often misinterpret each other, resulting in ‘break-ups’ and hiding things from each other. Novel’s couple see each other as equals; the show leans into the idea of Zhou Zishu as the senior and Wen Kexing as the junior, to the point that the show’s dynamic at times falls closer to the way novel Zishu treated his shidi Jiuxiao rather than how he is with Wen Kexing.

Which dynamic is ‘better’ really comes down to personal preference: some people dislike novel Zishu’s lack of outward affection, while others delight in seeking out moments of unreliable narration on his part where it becomes clear just how smitten he actually is; some see show WenZhou coming back to each other despite misunderstandings as an inspiring tale of love overcoming difficulties, while others feel the couple needed a lot of growth to truly be good for each other and never got it in the show; and I can keep going like this for every aspect of dynamic and characterization in both stories: whichever you prefer, there’s definitely someone out there who has the opposite opinion.

But I think it’s obvious that the differences between the two are near-impossible to reconcile, as certain elements directly clash against each other.

–––––––––– Previous meta this section is built on:

on miscommunications in SHL, from perspective of the novel’s fan

Morality shift in SHL, and how it affected WenZhou dynamic + addition

on the addition of shixiongdi relation in SHL

––––––––––

Conclusion

As an adaptation, SHL, of course, draws from TYK. Looking at them in most general terms, they clearly share an outline; looking closely at the details, there are of course many scenes that were (more or less) adapted from the novel. However, from any other point of view, they feel different: the thematic bones on which the novel’s story was built, its approach to genre and plot, were swapped out; the main couple’s dynamic, while initially similar, gradually became almost an inversion of the original; between those two major overhauls, the characterization shifted as well…

Plainly speaking, they are not the same story but two very different stories, which sometimes have diametrically opposite things to say. For some people, both are appealing, each in its own way; others strongly prefer one of them. But treating TYK and SHL as interchangeable, as the same canon, really does disservice to both.

This is not to say that the fusion is impossible – but the two are not so similar that they can naturally be taken as the same whole, and to fuse them, one would have to pick either novel’s or show’s take on each relevant element, big or small.

And, as an aside, treating two canons as the same can also be a bit inconsiderate towards other fans. I’m going to use novel’s fandom as an example, since that’s the one I’m in: at the time of writing, ~84% of fics in ‘Faraway Wanderers’ fandom tag on AO3 are double-tagged with ‘Word of Honor’*, and, as you may guess, not all of them are fusion fics. The situation on other platforms is comparable: despite the two having different titles, which should make them easy to separate, novel tags are flooded by show content – often enough, exactly the show-only content that directly contradicts or rewrites something from the novel. I do not think people do this on purpose or out of malice, and I understand the desire to reach wider audience, but if I may use whatever reach this meta may have: please keep in mind that the two stories are fairly different, and be thoughtful in your tagging – not just for others’ sake, but for yourself too. Tagging too broadly is just as likely to get you filtered out of searches (or muted, or blocked, depending on the platform and individual’s patience) as it is to give you extra views; consider whom you are reaching out to.

–––––––––– * fics tagged ‘Faraway Wanderers’ = 645, of them also tagged ‘Word of Honor’ = 544. ––––––––––

I said before that this will be the final post in my TYK/SHL comparisons (sans a couple extras I’m considering, but neither of them will be actual analyses). It had taken me… over two months, apparently, to sort out my thoughts. From start to finish, I’ve been circling this conclusion: that the two are, indeed, two very different stories.

Each of those stories, of course, brought a lot of joy to a lot of people; I do not want to diminish that. I have been critical of the show in several of these comparison posts – I can only hope my warnings worked, and I hadn’t upset anyone by it – and I want to briefly explain why, before I close the topic for good.

As separate stories, both TYK and SHL have their strengths and flaws; I like TYK a lot more, but that’s personal preference. I don’t particularly want to criticize SHL on its own merits either, though I have shared my opinion when directly asked, and will do so if asked in the future. The critical tone in my posts have primarily stemmed from considering SHL as an adaptation of TYK: unfortunately, the changes made have overwritten (and sometimes reversed) almost everything I found appealing about the novel. Simply speaking, I do not feel SHL works as an adaptation of its source material. But enough dwelling on that; from now on, I’m just going to try and treat TYK and SHL as two completely separate things.