depressing work.67 As a member said in the documentary, “Sometimes you went into a [Inter]net bar and paid for a full night, you might end up chatting all night.” In the group, the “families” not only share opinions on style, but also help each other to get jobs, or borrow from and lend money to each other. “What you couldn’t get at home, you could get from them.”68 In Luo’s opinion, 2016 is the year when Smart started to revive. He got more interview inquiries, and thus more people started to notice this group.69 Before 2016 were three silent years for him, because the Smart group became attacked since 2011. In 2013, the publication of Smart related content online was gradually deleted because it was considered inappropriate.70 They were bullied in real life, too. In order to find a job in the factories, many of them had to cut their hair and dye it back to black. Ever since then, this group almost disappeared.71
Figure 4. Old photo of Luo, from “We Were Smart.” Li, Yifan. “We Were Smart.” Li, Yifan. “We Were Smart.” 69 The Paper. “ding zhe sha ma te jiao zhu chui de tou, he ta liao le liao ren sheng (顶着杀马特教主吹的头，和他 聊了聊人生).” 70 China Newsweek. “Chong fang sha ma te: chu le tou fa, ta men ceng jing yi wu suo you (重访杀马特:除了头发, 他们曾经一无所有).” 71 Nan Fang Weekends. “’Mei ge wan sha ma te de ren dou you yi dian shang gan’ <sha ma te, wo ai ni> yu can ku qing chun (‘每个玩杀马特的人都有一点伤感’ <杀马特,我爱你>与残酷青春).” 67 68
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