Time now for our special series on Smart Spending. The series focuses on emerging businesses that develop along with China's ongoing consumption upgrades. The 'Anime, Comics, and Games' culture, or 'Nijigen' in Japanese, has long been on the fringe of China's mainstream culture. But recent years have seen this culture grow rapidly here in China. Today we zoom in on two most popular branches of Nijigen - cosplay and Gufeng music and what this means for Chinese consumption.

With the popularity of domestic IP on the rise, Nijigen culture and industry has entered a period of rapid development in China.

Cosplay is an important component of Nijigen culture that is widely enjoyed by teenagers. Cosplay refers to using costumes, decorations, tools and makeup to play roles in ACG works or novels. Chengdu Tianqi Culture Heitian Studio is a cosplay work production, Nijigen video making, Nijigen artist management and Nijigen IP incubation company developed from a cosplay society.

DING LUN, FOUNDER & CEO CHENGDU TIANQI CULTURE COMMUNICATION & HEITIAN STUDIO "Core members of Heitian Studio were all members of a cosplay society. Back then, the ACG industry has barely started in China. Most of the cosplay societies were in universities. We enjoyed cosplay and participate in competitions nationwide. Gradually, our society became the largest cosplay society in Southwest China."

Thanks to their popularity and influence, artists of Heitian Studio are acting in animations, staging for entertainment shows, endorsing Nijigen games and ACG IP.

DING LUN, FOUNDER & CEO CHENGDU TIANQI CULTURE COMMUNICATION & HEITIAN STUDIO "Currently, there are many films or TV serials based on ACG works, but the quality varies, as they are mostly produced by teams engaged in traditional film and TV industry with limited understanding of ACG culture and the taste of the young people. In other words, we understand the mentality of target audience and are therefore able to cater to the taste of Nijigen fans."

Gufeng music has elements from traditional Chinese culture, and it is unique to China.

GUI ZHENYU, CHAIRMAN & CEO MIMAN CULTURE MEDIA "Miman Media is a company engaged in Niijigen Guofeng culture. Our company adopted a small industrial chain model. On the one hand. We produce music, train our artists, hold concerts, participate in ACG shows and music festivals. We are also engaged in copyright negotiation and cooperation. In the future, we may also expand our business into a closed-loop industrial chain incorporating film, TV and gaming."

For the first time, Guofeng music grabbed the attention of traditional media. Miman then held the "Xin Shi Ji" Guofeng Music Concert at the National Stadium in 2016. The annual concert has become a routine for Miman, whose ambition goes far beyond promoting Guofeng music in the Nijigen circle.