As third places continue to disappear from many cities worldwide, Chinese malls are building community in the most absurdly creative and wonderfully wacky ways you can think of. With the rise of ecommerce and increasing commercialization, malls no longer hold the same reputation they once did as urban social spaces. But Ningbo Global Yintai Department Store, located in China’s Zhejiang Province, may have just cracked the code for reviving mall culture.
The mall has achieved viral fame on Chinese social media platforms for its bizarre pop-up competitions, which regularly attract thousands of participants. From competitive sunflower seed cracking to screw tightening and “stealth eating,” these competitions have been praised by netizens for having a low barrier to entry while providing great “emotional value.” At a time when young people all over the world are struggling with feelings of loneliness, China—with over 125 million single-person households—has embraced its growing “emotion economy.”
Unlike traditional hobbies, which tend to bear higher costs and can often become siloed based on interest, these free pop-up competitions offer a light-hearted and low-commitment opportunity to connect with strangers of all different backgrounds. Take a look below to see a few of the recently hosted competitions!
Screw Tightening
On May Day this year, hundreds of participants donning yellow hard hats raced to assemble 20 screws and nuts. If any screw was found to be loose upon inspection, a deduction would be issued. Each preliminary round consisted of 200 participants, with the 20 fastest participants advancing to the next round. Qualifying rounds included various screw-tightening challenges, with the final round even requiring participants to be blindfolded.
Sunflower Seed Cracking
Participants raced to fill a 100-space counting card with shelled sunflower seeds within a 10-minute time limit. Later rounds increased in difficulty by challenging participants to shell pumpkin and watermelon seeds, with the winner receiving a gold sunflower seed.
Stealth Eating
Over 2,000 participants, seated at school desks, competed to secretly consume a bowl of rice porridge as quickly as possible without being caught by the “teachers.” Side dishes included crispy noodles, pickled vegetables, and latiao. Those caught faced punishments (such as doing push-ups or standing for 30 seconds), with three strikes leading to elimination from the competition. The ultimate winner was awarded a single grain of gold rice.
Ugly Things Auction
In the spirit of China’s “new ugly” trend, participants advertised up to three “ugly things,” explaining why they bought them and what made them ugly. Audience members then voted and bid on the different items.
Cover image via Xiaohongshu.
