II. Community within Chinese Cultural Values

to their overall presentation of their collection on social media, which includes design

product, inspirations, and captions. Whereas analysis on YanYan Knits focuses more

heavily on visual design elements, the case study on Bobblehaus further incorporates

analysis based on their blogs and physical pop-up stores. Both utilize lived experiences as

foundations for their design inspiration and highlight different forms of Chinese and

Chinese American culture respectively.

PART 2: BACKGROUND & CONTEXT

What is a community?

Community is a key construct in social thought.84 Some are born into a

community and some find their chosen one, but humans as social creatures seek out like-

minded individuals to create social groupings with. The desire to seek or be a part of a

community affects human behavior and consciousness, thus influencing our actions and

social interactions. Community is a social group in which those who share similar values

such as religion, customs, or identity gather together to form a collective. Core values of

community relate around shared consciousness of kind, shared rituals and traditions, and

moral responsibility. As Anderson notes that nationality and communities command

profound “emotional legitimacy,” the ties that one feels towards their identity are deeply rooted.85 Cultural identity, then, is crucial in the formulation of nationhood and

community in this sense. Community is important because it allows for a sense of

belonging, but it also has boundaries between itself and other nations, formulating a distinctive identity of ‘us’ and ‘them.’86 According to habitus, people tend to gravitate

towards those with similar background or identities as their own, naturally forming an

identity.

For those with diasporic identities and those who can be classified with “third

culture” identities (raised in a culture other than the culture of their family or nationality),

seeking a like-minded community becomes a key value. The complex imaginings of

“community” and “isolation” relates to ideas of “self” and “other,” creating distance

84 Muniz, Journal of Consumer Research 27, 412. 85 Anderson, Imagined Communities, 6. 86 Anderson, Imagined communities, 7.

between those who are diasporic and those who are not.87 This further affects the

construction of their social identities, motivating them towards their homeland or further

distancing themselves from it. Diasporic movements are based in distance, but “also paradoxically reiterate closeness and return.”88 With an increase in multiculturalism and

diasporic movements, representation is needed to seek out those who are like-minded. As

Hall highlights, this differentiation is what forms communities and identities. Community

becomes similar to a comradeship, making kinship and closeness possible within diasporic or multicultural individuals.89 Both YanYan Knits and Bobblehaus occupy bi-

cultural viewpoints: with influence from America and China, their respective co-founders

have felt the impact of both cultures. Through their experiences, they seek to build their

own community of like-minded people.

Community within Chinese Cultural Values

Anderson too notes that the foundation of imagined communities lie in cultural roots.90 Within Chinese culture, community is foundational to the makeup of its society.

As a key pillar of Chinese society, it is crucial to examine how Chinese cultural values

extend its roots into the formulations of brand communities for Chinese designers. While

communities may have previously been confined to physical locations, digital

communities can easily be created nowadays. In the 21st century, “as transportation and

communication technology has brought people and physical objects closer, the advances

87 Goh, Robbie B. H., and Wong, Shawn. Asian Diasporas : Cultures, Indentity, Representation. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2004, 11. 88 Ibid. 89 Anderson, Imagined Communities, 7. 90 Anderson, Imagined Communities, 7.