Hello, welcome to Roundtable, where we serve up piping hot debates on the issues that sizzle in China and beyond.
I'm Yuhong Lin. Welcome to another special episode in our series celebrating the 75 years of transformation in China.
Today, we're focusing on something we all know and love, play.
From the toys of yesterday to the AR, VR, XR kinds of e -sports of today, the way Chinese people play has evolved alongside the country's social and economic development.
For this episode, I'm joined by Lai Ming and Yu Shen.
Now grab your favorite childhood toy or maybe your game controller and join us for a playful look at how China got serious about fun.
Do you remember the simple joy of playing with marbles or kites as a child?
Or maybe the excitement of your first video game?
Play has always been an important part of life in China.
And over the years, it has evolved in incredible ways.
In today's show, let's explore how toys, games, and now e -sports have shaped our leisure time in China.
Let's listen to the sounds of play from the past to the digital present.
And since we're talking about the traditional toys, I think we, I'd like to say that the three of us could represent different times when it comes to childhood toys.
Okay. I'm very careful with this.
Comment is comment.
So I want to ask Lai Ming first.
If you can recall the first toy you've ever played in your childhood years, what would that be?
Or what's the most impressionable one?
Hmm, that's a cheap shot.
I mean, going after the eldest member of the show, you know?
Well, the first thing that I could think of, of a childhood toy is a ceramic whistle.
The shape of a rooster is white in color.
And when you fill it with water and you blow into it, it'll sound like a bird that's chirping.
You've also had that.
Really? Of course. And then after that, I think people developed into different shapes.
It could be something like rooster.
It could be a little.
Harmonica. Or, I can think of a monk.
I don't know why, but there is a monk that also has that function.
Like you said, there are different shapes, different look of that whistle toy, but I think it's, it's quite important for kids because I've heard someone, when I was learning to parent, to be a parent, actually I've heard that, that kind of movement, the blowing into the whistle and making it make a sound
is actually good for the development of your muscles on your face, which is why child are encouraged to do that.
Which is why my two -year -old actually has certain kind of toys in that function.
But I think it's safe to say that hundreds of years ago, kids do not really have or there's no specific or very clear definition of childhood.
You can play, you can play with dirt, you can play with little stones, you can invent your own games with your friends living in the same village.
Or you play with dangerous wild animals and be eaten.
Yes, that too. But the idea of creating something for little kids leisure time is definitely the kind of concept that has developed in the relatively modern kind of society, which is why when we talk about toys, the very first one I can think of is actually this rolling iron hoop.
Do you know what that is?
I think I know, but I've never played it before.
Me neither, it's kind of like the toy you get to see in ancient films or TV shows.
When you say ancient makes me hesitant to say that I actually seen people playing when I was a little child and always fancy having one.
Even you didn't play it?
No, I didn't have it.
What do you mean you and you?
You should really? Careful, careful.
Sorry, not ancient.
The very first generation of actual toys designed for kids to play.
And a rolling iron hoop is a classic outdoor activity where children use a stick to roll a large metal hoop on the ground, keeping it balanced and moving forward.
And the initial idea is that when a kid asks his or her parents to raise a pet dog and they cannot do that.
Then the parents would say here is a rolling iron hoop and you can you can roll the iron hoop in the way that you're walking a dog.
So that's what yes, the very initial idea is like you have a iron dog, but it's like walking a dog.
It's a play. It's the very initial idea of this toy.
It's better than a dog.
I mean, you don't have to pick up after that, you know?
OK, because in my mind, people were playing it through competitions.
They tried to compete with each other how fast they could be of rolling that little hoop and how fast, how long.
Yeah. And yeah, that I think I think I tried it and it's it's impossible for me to actually make the hoop stand.
You know, so it is a skillful and skillful toy with techniques.
I think I think the first feature of a certain simple toy like this is that it requires a little bit of skill.
So you can enjoy it, but you have to also practice to enjoy it.
And the second feature of these kinds of toys is that you have to invent certain kind of rules so that you play the toy with your friends.
For example, if we're talking about early stages of toys, we have marbles.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. We had that.
What is a marble for those who are not as old as we are lining?
Well, it's a popular game where players use small glass or clay marbles to hit other marbles, trying to knock them out of a designated area, kind of like curling.
But only you play with round objects or simply just hit it with different colorful marbles.
They could be transparent.
They could be rainbow colored.
They could be white, white and blue, white and yellow, white and everything.
It was very colorful.
And I had a lot of marbles, actually.
We want to do or did you buy them both?
Yeah, we tried hit others marble to make this as a game.
And speaking of a game, you know, there are even marble tournaments actually held around the world.
For example, the National Marbles Tournament was first held in 1922 in Wildwood, New Jersey in the US.
Yeah. So they called the marble shooter as Mipsters.
They compete for national honors, college scholarships and numerous prizes and awards.
So basically, it is a legit game and competition.
Well, it is skillful.
I know. I know. We used to have tournaments in our classroom, but we were playing with a different kind of rule.
What we did was kind of like a desktop golf or mini golf kind of thing.
So we were not using glass marbles.
We were using these air soft pellets of air soft guns, these orange little balls, those really, really small ones.
Yes, it's little red, orange balls.
Were they called BB guns or something?
I researched, in fact, for the show.
It's a very casual way to call it BB guns.
But in fact, there are air soft guns.
And then because these pellets are quite cheap compared to the air soft guns themselves.
So it was quite affordable for the average primary school students.
And back then in the 19 early 1990s, the school infrastructure wasn't that up to date.
So we often had to deal with very old desks that comes with holes and, you know, and holes and gutters even.
So it's quite usual for one to inherit an old desk that comes with these little holes and tunnels.
And when one inherits that, one would congratulate oneself for being able to host these little tournaments after class or even during class.
I remember such rules when I was a little girl back in primary school.
Of course, we have playgrounds, but we also have other areas instead of having the other areas where we get to actually stand on soil grounds, which means we can dig little holes and make our very own playground for these marbles and other kinds of little balls to play with.
Yes, we invent our own rules.
Only we do it on the desk and we play it like kind of an expedition or a race kind of game.
So you have to push your pellets or marbles from one hole to the other, the golf style, and then the one that finishes all the routes will be considered the winner.
And along the way, you can bump your competitor off the track.
I think finding such kind of uneven surfaces to be a battlefield is quite common in a lot of these games.
I remember one game that we really, really in favor of was card flipping games.
You could use these cards.
And when I was a kid, I would collect all kinds of cards, like especially Pokemon cards, and then we would play by flipping cards on uneven surfaces.
I said if one player managed to flip the other player's card and then they would win and then the card will belong to the winner.
So it's kind of in the way you're feeling like you are actually battling with your own Pokemons with your friends.
Okay. Well, the funny thing about these games is that basically different schools, different classes, or even different group of friends would invent their own rules and you play by the rule.
And I think it's very, in a way, inspiring for kids.
You can come up with a certain rule that you would all play in line with.
And that is quite an interesting social practice in my opinion, which is why I think these kind of games, even the toys, even nowadays, maybe even gadgets, can be different.
Actually, it's a very long lasting evergreen activity in schools.
Yeah, I think that part of exercise is quite important.
On the one hand, you get to envision an order.
On the other hand, you also need to persuade your friends and your pals to agree with you and you build a consensus.
So it's a process that not only trains your imagination, but also helps you socialize with your friends.
And I think that's partly the reason that even though we do not see a lot of marbles in today's schools, we do still see, for example, rope jumping games and also Chinese jump rope.
That is the kind of game that you use a really long elastic band tied in the loop.
Players perform specific jumping patterns between the elastic bands, which are stretched between two people, standing a few feet apart.
So you either be the one who is standing and forming the elastic loop or be the one who's jumping around the loop.
But either way, on top of that, there's also the shuttlecock kicking.
So these games are, again, very long lasting because of their nature, because of the features we talked about.
You need to practice a little bit.
There's competition involved, and you can invent your own rules.
And they are still quite popular in today's Chinese schools.
And also, I think it's because they're quite athletic because you need to use all of these physical skills to be part of these games.
And actually jumping rope and, you know, Tijians, there are some kind of sports in today's, no matter if it's elementary school or middle school.
And also, interestingly, I found that a lot of outerlies here in Beijing are so passionate about Tijian kicking all of these shuttlecock.
They were just, you know, circling up and try to keep the shuttlecock from falling to the ground and they can keep it for several rounds.
Yeah, I would say skillful.
I know. Yeah, it really is, again, another social or connection building kind of activity.
And coming back a little bit to toys, per se, I want to know whether or not you've been given or you've seen this tin frog.
I would like to guess that Lin -Ming has because I have more than one in my home.
But how about you, Yuxian?
I don't have any of these tin frogs.
Yeah, when we are watching some of the videos that's saying, OK, your memories of childhood toys, these kind of things will always come up.
But we do have these kind of, you know, wind up toy that made of tin.
But they're not in shapes of a green frog.
Yeah, they could be something like action figures or transformers.
These things are more likely to be the one that we may have.
It's not his age. My son doesn't have that.
My son has a wind up.
What is it? A chick or rooster?
Well, actually, this wind up toy made of tin often shaped like a frog that hops when wound up.
It does reflect a nostalgic piece of toy history.
But the reason I'm mentioning it is because actually, if you take a look at the history of this specific toy, you would see that it was created in the early 1900s.
And it specifically is a tin factory.
So originally they were making these tin containers for food and they were very successful and they wanted to find a way to recycle the raw material of these tin cans.
And that is the time they figure out to make these kind of tin frogs.
And it's not only tin frogs.
They also have these tin jumping chicken, the jumping duck.
But apparently the jumping frog was the most iconic one.
Yes. But the reason that these toys stop being so popular is that people believe that these metal objects can be a little bit dangerous for kids because after that period, kids toys started to evolve to elastic to also some smarter ones, including remote control four -wheel drive electric off -road.
Those cars! So Chichu, do you have a memory in that area?
One of the reasons that these kind of things were so popular back then was we had a lot of cartoons in TV and then these four WD or four -wheel drive cars were so popular among elementary school students.
And the cartoon, I think it was called Sichu Shiong Di or English Bakuso Kyodai Let's and Go.
Yes. Kids could buy all kinds of these different parts of the cars to assemble their own unique mini four WD cars and even give them custom names.
And one popular one I think you have to know is Chongfung Janshen, which is magnum in the cartoon.
Yeah. I think every boy want one.
The blue, fast, little four WD car.
And even in schools, they try to make students to be creative.
They will offer some of these tracks for you to run these four WD cars and students can actually compete with each other through with their own like cars, with their own names.
I could tell we are generations apart.
I remember the animation being aired on Sichuan satellite TV and whenever it was on, I would try to be there in front of the TV and to follow the story line, but I don't remember there being the infrastructure for young kids to enjoy playing these four wheel drive toy cars.
In fact, I don't think my family could afford to buy one for me.
There really was no place.
And even as I was able to borrow one from a fellow friend who was better off, I don't think there was the place to run the cars.
The floor, the infrastructure wasn't exactly there.
Well, I beg to differ because in 1996, actually the Aldi Toys, which was the most iconic and most successful company producing these toy cars, actually in cooperation with the General Administration of Sport, the Science and Technology Commission, the Communist Youth League and other government departments
held eleven editions of the Aldi Cup Mini 4WD Racing Championship for Youth.
And that alongside the animation Yushun has talked about, were part of their campaign advertising for their cars.
So you would guess it was because that the animation got so popular and the toy company started to producing these cars.
No, no, no, no. It was the other way around.
It was the other way around.
It was precisely because the company wanted to promote their toys.
They introduced the animation from Japan.
So the reason I think it's a very important and interesting case is that we get to see from that point on, we see all these toy companies in China started to find ways to be innovative, to basically create a market.
But it's not creating the market is always there, or at least the need is always there.
Well, the market was growing.
I don't think I mean, Yushun and New Orleans, perhaps you guys were from urban areas, better off parts of the country.
But in the small county where I grew up, I don't think there's much demand for that kind of toys.
I could think of was kind of what you should mention earlier.
These little pictures that we can flip and try.
And we try to make use of every little detail that we can come lay our hands on.
You know, everyday life, the marble games, we get by with the marbles from the Chinese chess.
So the reason why rolling iron was popular for a time was because it was very easy to fashion out of metal objects.
And any parent could with the patience would be able to do that.
So it was a different kind of life experience, obviously, that I have lived as compared to what you guys have experienced.
Yes, I agree. I think the need for play is always there.
Yet the market for toys or even for E -games that we are about to discuss a bit later is created.
It's the kind of supply -side reform that's happening in the world of play.
And apparently our generations are benefiting from this kind of reform.
And we see that by the year 2000, China was manufacturing 75 percent of the world's toys with most factories concentrated in Guangdong and other areas like Zhaoxing and Zhejiang, these places are creating and exporting toys to around the world, providing kids with different ways to enjoy their leisure time,
apparently. And there are the kind of toys that have been there but are evolving alongside time.
I'm talking about Legos.
But in the Chinese concept, we're not precisely calling it Legos.
At the very first place, we call them Ji Muo, the little blocks.
Yes, the blocks you put together and create your own buildings and architectures.
Right. Even with that, with the wooden blocks, which were not exactly international, much like the Lego brand, which is known worldwide, even with the wooden blocks that were produced domestically, you can see on the patents, the building that are intended to be built with this wooden blocks are always Western.
And it's only in recent years that we've explored the market for more Chinese style, traditional Chinese style architecture and building blocks.
Oh, yeah. And also, I think something that was quite international with the building blocks is the 10 gram or the seven piece puzzle.
People can use different shapes of puzzles to create different styles of puzzles.
And I think that is why these kind of entertainment forms were just as popular as before and now, because, you know, just like Lego, it's been there and it is still there, right?
It's just because its uniqueness and iconic status have made these kind of things just stay and kids are still loving it.
And nowadays, Lego is not just a toy, I think.
When we're discussing the specific brand of building block, it is an industry chain of Lego, like toys and also education and entertainment.
All of these have become the core businesses of this brand.
For example, Lego is also involved in television and film and also theme parks.
Maybe we'll have a Lego.
I think we discussed this before and in a show that there is going to be a Lego land in China.
So no matter these forms of entertainment are evolving, I think what has not changed, just like new only said, is the idea and the need for entertainment because these forms of entertainment haven't disappeared.
No matter it is old or new, kids are still loving it.
And recently I visited Shuexian County in Hebei.
That is in northern China near Beijing.
And we went to a local elementary school where their educational and entertainment resources are not as abundant.
But I spoke with some of the children and heard them say they could climb trees.
They can play with their friends.
And all of these, I think it sounds very old toys like we just mentioned.
And they said they had so much fun with all of these and without iPhones and iPads.
Their lives are still filled with happiness.
So no matter what kind of forms that kids are playing, the key point is about, you know, sharing and enjoyment and all of these fun aspect of the toy that can bring to us.
Yes. It's about making the best of every tool, every item that you can lay your hands on and try and have a good time while you're at it.
Yes. Now, here comes another, if not the major form of play, video games.
Who is a video fan in the studio?
Everybody is raising their hands, raising his hand.
Yeah, I think it's kind of natural for our generation.
I think for you and me, Laiming and myself, even someone as ancient as me, even someone as ancient as us, we have our hands on video games.
But for today's kids, it's more like they grow up with video games and some of them even grow up with mobile games.
But we'll get to that a bit later.
Let's go back to, again, the ancient days of Laiming.
Well, the ancient days, the most iconic items that I can think of would be this gaming machine or gaming console that you can hold on your palm and embedded in the console, you can find games like Tetris and Snake Tetris.
In Chinese, we call it the Ousufan Kwai.
I don't know why, but it's kind of like an automatic wooden lock game where different shapes of blocks will fall out of the sky and you have to arrange them so they will form complete tiles will align and then they will disappear and then creating room for more blocks to fall out.
You make me realize the need for something to be tidy and disappear.
It's deeply in the gene of human beings.
Yeah, there are four different types of the pattern of the tiles and they all have names.
I don't really remember the names, but yes, I do know that they have names.
They should make a movie out of it like the one called Inside Out with different colors indicating different emotions.
But here they can I think they can inject personality into different shapes of this blocks.
And I think I would definitely go and see a movie like that.
And later on, the games are getting a bit more complicated and much more fun re included.
I'm talking about Street Fighter.
Yeah, of course. Oh, you know of Street Fighter.
I do. You know, actually, I've also played some of these arcade games in somewhere we got game halls or just arcade arcade.
Yeah. But I had no idea how to do all of these combos and the combining all of these moves together with the joystick and buttons.
I'm pretty sure lightning does.
Well, OK. I know a thing or two about that.
But in my memory, it seems like these game halls or arcades didn't last that long because they lasted.
Yeah, because I think only they existed before you were born.
Maybe that's the reason why I am I born at the stage where is just about to fade out.
But I still did play some of these games.
And we mentioned all of these Street Fighter and also the King of Fighters.
They belong to different companies, but they are all just combating games with different characters, with different background stories.
I think that is also one of the fascinating parts that people all like, these games, because I think it reflects a little bit in today's video games, because it's not only about the way that you play it.
It's also about the story that the game is trying to tell.
I'm actually curious about your impression of these Chinese arcades.
What's your impression about these places, the environment, the atmosphere, the kind of people playing in these locations?
I think they're just street side stores and you get into it.
It's normally very dark, very loud.
A lot of people will.
And also the sound of coins and also the sound of the machine, that also brings people that kind of nostalgic memory or feeling of using the machines, but not your personal consoles, because sometimes or most of the time you're just going with your friends because you can play with them with, I think,
on one machine because you are a player one or player two and you compete with each other.
See, I know why New Orleans asking the question because in my generation, going to an arcade was somehow stigmatized.
Only only core kids or unruly kids would go there.
And in our case, they pretty much know what they are in the eyes of parents and adults, which is why they always are tucked away in small alleys.
And more than that, not there is a curtain in front of the door.
I mean, the door is always open, but they need a curtain to shield people from the eyes of their parents and the other adults in their family or even their teachers.
And occasionally you can hear adults voices saying, why are you here?
You're supposed to be in school.
Where did you get the money?
And in I think 20 years back, you can even sometimes, very occasionally, experience a little bit of the smell of smoke, cigarettes in these places.
And I get to see that the stigmatized impression is no longer there for Yu Shun's generation.
Yeah, I was surprised coming to a big city, for instance, in Shanghai and in Beijing where you go into a mall and then you go to you see a well lighted and open space where people are just unabashedly going at it at the machines, at the consoles without worrying about maybe the parents coming to pick
them up with a bloom or something and really hit them.
And the funny thing is, when talking about the effect or the influence of arcades for Chinese people for especially our generation, I'm talking about Laimi and I, myself, our generation.
We're not the same generation.
I'm trying to be nice.
And when we talk about our generation, actually, you get to see that, yes, for some kids playing in these arcades, playing in sometimes Internet cafe for them, playing games.
It definitely would affect their academic work.
And that's what their parents believe.
That's what their parents believe.
But actually, according to an interview towards a lot of, quote unquote, successful people, for example, Yuho Ling, who knows her way around all kinds of games, Yingxu Ling, the CEO of Hero Entertainment, he said that 30 years ago, when my mother dragged me out of an arcade and gave me a beating, she
definitely didn't expect that 30 years later, her son would make a career out of gaming.
And also, according to Wang Han -Han, a project director of Gamma Data and Deputy Director in Chief of its industry news section, working on reviewing and writing different articles about e -games and eSports and the video industry here in China, said that when I was in fourth grade, I skipped school
to go to the arcade.
Not good. Do not follow this.
My dad found me and dragged me out home.
And later, my mom worried that I might go missing again, brought me a game console.
So it was a blessing in disguise, I guess.
It was. It was. And also we see Cheng Zi, or Orange, is apparently not the real name.
But this is someone who's working as an independent game developer, said that back then we were teenagers going in and out of these arcades.
We were playing Street Fighter, Final Fight and all these games.
And we work good at school.
But who would have known that little seed in little Cheng Zi's heart could make this person working in the industry?
And I think it's funny to see nowadays more and more parents understand the role of game in kids' life is quite vital.
And what we should do is to give them regulations on what to play, what to play, but not don't play.
That is the same. Just like you said, the whistles may be good for baby's mouth development.
And some of these game consoles can be good for kids, for their imagination or creativity and their recognition on colors and pictures.
We're not just praising that.
OK, games are all good, but absolutely.
There are some benefits for kids who actually use in it wisely.
So that's why I think the market of home councils is also very big, even no matter if it's back then in China or now in China.
Wow, game consoles.
Yes. So the idea of the role of games in families in children's childhood lives has also evolved among parents conception about how to manage or how to invest in the family's game area.
And that is why I think in the 1990s we introduced the home consoles like FamCom or Famicom into Chinese market.
And that was also a memory that I held.
Well, there is a generation gap here, too.
I mean, in my generation, my parents will go for those xie xie zie.
We call them xie xie zie.
It's a device that comes with a keyboard, but also with a slot to read different kind of cars, cars that you can use to learn basic programming or typing, input typing, that kind of thing.
I learned how to type the five strokes will be with that device.
So you can make good use of that device.
But on the other hand, the slot also allows you to plug in a gaming card.
Yes. I think both of you are talking about similar devices because Famicom was produced by Nintendo, the Japanese company.
The full name is Family Computer.
And also the learning machine, the learning computer that you mentioned, Lyming, they were produced by the Chinese company called Subaru or Xiao Bao Wang.
Yes. Both of these are very popular back then.
And they, of course, brought learning learning with these.
Yeah, learning opportunities and programs into households also gaming into households, I think.
So that is because, as you said, this gaming consoles look like computers, but they are actually custom built system consoles with keyboards and mice.
So I want to ask, what are some of the games that are most popular in your age?
For example, how about Super Mario?
Yeah, we do love that.
Everybody has played that.
To rescue the princess.
And also, I think in my memory, the very first game that I played was the Battle City or the Tank 1990.
Tank 1990 was my game as well.
And I created my own map.
And yes, you tear down that bricks and then you can create your own map.
But basically we played that to actually defeat our enemies.
We tear down the bricks and tear down the enemies.
Back then, as a child, I would visit a friend's house and he had a game console.
Super. I was there that I played my first game, this one Battle City.
Both of us are two players could team up and work together to defeat the enemies.
So we tear down the bricks or sometimes the trees and enemies and then finally go to the base of our enemies.
Yeah, they're mostly surrounded by bricks, but we will just go through everything and bring it down.
And there's a more difficult and more fun version of the game where your enemies can also pick up the supplies that will show up all the way.
And when they go into the explosives, then both of you will explode.
Owned by the player.
And then, yeah, when they pick up, it's been way specific, but it's all it brings.
But but all this brings up so much memories.
And then we move on to the early 2000s where we finally welcome computer games.
Oh, yes. Well, actually, I think computer games came a bit earlier than that.
It's just during that period of time.
It's really the booming age of computer games.
We see with increased availability of personal computers, PC gaming become dominant in China.
You get to first have a computer and then, you know, having a fast enough, good enough computer to be able to have your games operate on your computer.
And also, it's not just you.
You also have to have friends who's playing similar games so that the game can be popular because the social aspect of gaming has always been there no matter what kind of games we're talking about.
Right. And also, I think just with these kind of features.
I think what you said is the LAN local area network system or feature of these computers, I think back then not every family can afford a personal computer.
And that is why the rise of Internet cafes in China is becoming normal.
So a large number of these kind of L .A.
and games became popular across the country.
So that means multiple players can connect and play games together within the same Internet or L .A.
and so I think you would be familiar with some of these names.
I think it's called Command and Conquer Red Alert, Honjin, right?
An Age of Empires. I've done all that.
Right. Did you play with your classmates or friends?
Both these games we used to play in high school and then when I hit college in 2003, it was the age of LAN games.
We played Counter Strike and Warcraft and we were both in the dormitory.
And the school allowed us to subscribe to Internet Connection.
So we chipped in and we bought a router and four of us were connected to the same router, which allows us to build a LAN network that would support all of us to be on the same game.
And also this was the age when gaming platforms really came into shape.
There was this whole feng tei jian ping tai, which is a platform where you can subscribe and it will create a virtual LAN experience for you.
So even though you are not in the same place connected to the same router, players around the country who are subscribed to that platform can come together and play the same game competitively or together for the same mission.
So it was very, very fun and quite popular.
Then that's Internet games, right?
It's online gaming.
It is already online gaming.
We think about video games or to be more specific, computer video games.
Actually, the first video games, the first computer -based video games created by Domestically Made was in 1994, was the Magic Eagle.
So that's around 30 years ago.
And over the course of 30 years, actually the popularity of different type of PC games have already emerged so many different times.
There are many rounds of different popularity of different games.
We're talking about the kind of game that you can play with your own computer.
It can be a role playing game.
You're a certain role and you would go along the story, beat some bosses.
We call them bosses, RPG, real -time strategy, massive multiplayer online role playing games.
There's the online one and offline one.
There are simple games.
And the ones that Leiming was talking about was the online games already.
And the reason that Internet Cafe was a thing was because I still remember some of my high school classmates saying that they cannot play the game separately in their homes, even that they have computers.
They say we have to be together, physically together to play the games together.
And that's the most fun.
It's kind of like cheating.
You can talk and discuss strategy while other players who are connected through the Internet don't have the advantage of sitting together and discuss strategy.
Yes. Actually, in the May of 2001, the online gaming site Li 'an Zhong became the world's largest online gaming platform with 170 ,000 current users and about 18 million registered users by that time.
So that was really big for online gaming industry here in China.
And in November that year, NetEase launched its first self -developed online game.
It's called Westward Journey Online, making its debut as a gaming enthusiast.
And after that success, another major portal, Siina entered the online gaming market in 2002.
After that, I think in our previous episodes, we talked about communication platforms and we mentioned Kyo Kyo.
Kyo Kyo was the first generation.
One of the instant messaging apps, but Kyo Kyo has also got a Kyo Kyo Games website allowing you to play those games with your Kyo Kyo friends.
All of these games are naming themselves with a name of online, which means I think before that, a lot of these games are just offline, as you said.
So if you guys are talking about these games being online, I think I need to talk about something at my age.
We cannot just be talking about Hongjin Red Alert or Age of Empires.
Ancient games. But of course they are classic.
I'm not saying they're bad, but when I first time, I think using internet or using personal computers to log on some websites or online games are some of these, I think, simulation and nurturing games called Sair Hao or More Zhong Yuan or you know, Moles World or Albi Island.
We elementary school students will just play this and then the another day we will discuss which phase you're on and what kind of outfits that you bought, what kind of decoration that you bought for a little house.
And we even invite our classmates or friends to our little virtual home to have a visit, you know, to chat to even drink tea.
I don't know. But anyway, these games are the old memories that we will have as elementary school students.
And while I was preparing for today's show, I actually searched up some of these games and they're still running.
Yeah, and they're quite popular still.
Yes. Well, they're fans.
And the thing is, the reason that these kind of games was invented or were kind of like a prelude of this type of games was in 2003, there has been a concept of simplify the gaming.
So the idea is that instead of having these very competitive shooting each other down and competing to like in the 10th, 1990s, very difficult puzzles, very difficult puzzles or defeating the other party kind of game, after that, people realized that games can be casual as well.
And they can be simple.
And you do not have to pick the perfect computer or find a four hour free time slot in your life.
It can happen anywhere, any place, which is why some of these very casual friend making kind of games were growing vegetable kind of games or having a frog traveling around the world and bring back pictures that you can check any time you want kind of games started to emerge.
And after that, people realize games can be quite relaxing and can be quite casual.
And thus moving on to the games that you shouldn't mention that they do not have to competitive.
You can collect, you can make friends, you can build your own virtual homes and virtual communities and that can be another type of games we are looking at.
Right now, I think this coin size with the increase in popularity of gaming as compared to maybe my generation, when only a few nerdy members of the population can afford the time and the patience to explore various kinds of ways to crack a game.
Now, with more bigger proportion of the population entering this market, the game developers will have to negotiate with a wide range of players.
Many of them probably don't have the patience and many of them not necessarily have the same age, gender, as such, really creates a window for developers to be more versatile and or more diversified in appealing to the specific buyer or consumers.
That is definitely true.
And that leads to the rapid growth of the gaming market here in China.
For example, by 2023, the domestic gaming market's actual sales revenue had grown to 302 billion yuan, a year on year increase of 13 percent, breaking the 300 billion yuan threshold for the first time.
And the user base reached 668 million.
So we see more and more players in this field.
And that is it's turning into a huge market.
And since we're talking about a huge market, definitely a mobile game is something we cannot neglect.
And yes, computer games are fun, but it requires you to be around a computer.
But today's kids, they're born with mobile games.
Mobile games are just so portable and you can play it whenever and wherever you are.
You know, the rapid growth of smartphones in, I think, the early 2010s let you an explosion in mobile games.
So the mobile games like Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile gained immense popularity with mobile gaming becoming the primary platform for most of Chinese gamers.
And we can see the industry is continually developing and advancing and the relevant regulations are also becoming more refined, I would say, because I think with the popularity of mobile games, there are also some issues are coming up, especially among kids.
So in recent years, in response to regulatory requirements, major mobile game platforms in China have introduced anti addiction systems or youth modes to restrict the time and scope of gaming for minors as well as to limit in game purchasing and spending.
That is definitely a very important side of the gaming industry.
That is why games are becoming easier to get.
The accessibility increase and you can get access to games no matter when and no matter where, definitely regulation is a very important part.
Well, there was a time when game developers and manufacturers, they were really putting a lot of time and energy into developing a fun game, regardless of whether or not they're making a lot of money.
Remember, piracy was a serious issue as compared to nowadays.
So you can almost say that a lot of the companies were really in it for the future or in it for themselves or for their own interest as compared to nowadays, when the gaming companies, they are quite savvy and they're quite smart about making their investment pay off.
So for a time as a veteran player, I used to stay away from mobile games because I think they're too easy and they don't present a challenge.
And more often than not, they operate on the basis that they would like to entice as many users as possible.
They would like to attract as many users to pay as possible so that is almost robbing these core players the fun of really enjoying the game.
But then again, as a veteran player, I see a new trend happening in the gaming industry here in China, and that is with the number and scale of players in this country, it has now allowed the gaming industry to become more diversified for sure, but it also allows certain companies to go after specific
hardcore players like me.
The talk of, for instance, the Black Myth, Wukong the game.
People are always complaining, how is it so hard to crack and to beat the bosses?
I mean, this is exactly the kind of game that we were pretty much used to.
And I think as a hardcore player, I pretty much welcome the games like that, even though some are saying that this is following the same pattern as similar games like Blackborn and Dark Souls.
OK, so do you are some of the biased chains among players, right?
So I heard that console players will look down upon PC gamers and then PC gamers will look down upon mobile gamers.
I recently tried several popular mobile games.
They're not that easy.
Actually, they're fun to play with.
And if you take a look at the e -sports industry, actually some of the e -games or the e -sports competitions are based on mobile games and it's getting professional.
And if you're really hardcore, you can also be part of the e -sports world no matter becoming an amateur e -sports player or enjoying these different e -sports games that you can watch live stream or enjoy the very professional ones.
For example, actually, as of June this year, there are one hundred and ninety five identifiable e -sports club here in China showing a slight increase in total and cities with more than 10 e -sports clubs include Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Hanzhou, and Shanghai has the most clubs.
So go to these clubs, enjoy the e -sports games and maybe that's for the hardcore players.
Well, I think we've come a long way from kites and jumping frog toys to playstations and mobile games who knew that what started with marbles would end up with multi million dollar e -sports tournaments.
But hey, that's progress.
China's rapid social and economic development has not just reshaped its industries, it's reshaped how we have fun.
So whether you're an old school rope jumping champion or an e -sports prodigy, one thing is clear.
In China, we know how to play no matter the decade.
Thank you for listening.
I'm Yuhong in with Lai Ming and Yushu bye for now.
