Source of this article: Time Weekly Author: Li Guang
In the "business school" classes of micro-businessmen, Swarovski often appears as "using marketing to put artificial crystal on the altar". Although it cannot be compared with high-end jewelry such as Cartier and Bulgari, in the concept of "light luxury" built by consumerism for young people, Swarovski has dominated the field of jewelry for many years.
No matter how you look at it, Swarovski has nothing to do with middle-aged men, whether "middle-aged" or "men".
In fact, Swarovski's core competency is cutting man-made crystals. Jewelry that costs hundreds or even thousands of dollars is not something that Swarovski is proud of, and the crown of this brand sits a telescope.
This telescope, which is regarded by bird watching enthusiasts as the ceiling of bird watching telescopes, sells for more than 100,000 yuan at the highest price.
It is reported that the founder of Swarovski, Daniel Swarovski, a middle-aged man, also loves bird watching.
On an international bird watching website called Bird watching headquarters, a Swarovski ATX telescope priced at $2,400 (about 15,000 yuan) was evaluated as "on the next bird watching trip, take out this telescope and you will get jealous eyes from all sides."
As the review said, in the circle of bird watching, having such a telescope can quickly enter the top of the circle of contempt chain. This outdoor activity, which has a slight "aristocratic" meaning, is mainly based on middle-aged men and carries the label of "rich and idle".
But more recently, birdwatchers have found that the activity, which leads to the transcendence of the middle class label, appears to be less attractive to young males.
The "chain of contempt" that burns money
In the last month of 2021, in the "Flying Feather Trail" WeChat group where the White Frost Gull Heron (net name) is located, there are frequent information about bird watching, from the second International Bird Watching Week in Poyang Lake to the death of He Huaren, a birdwatcher in Taiwan.
The group consists of 175 people, most of whom live in Guangzhou. The frequency of chat in the group is not high, and rarely shares bird pictures, more is the exchange of science information related to birds, belonging to the bird watching group that has evolved from hobbies to more academics, and is also the top group in the so-called bird watching contempt chain.
At a bird watching event organized by the South China Botanical Garden, the dark green telescope hanging on the chest of the white frost gull heron attracted the attention of the Times Weekly reporter, especially the silver eagle logo embedded in the telescope.
He said it was Swarovski's production of bird-watching telescopes for about $16,000.
The white frost gull heron's bird watching equipment twice stood on top of the bird watching ring despise chain. The first is the form: people who only carry telescopes for bird watching are higher in the circle than those who carry photographic equipment with long guns and short guns.
In the words of Guo Shichao, the head of the public welfare organization "Walking with Nature", although he is reluctant to use the "chain of contempt" in the bird watching circle, birdwatchers who only carry telescopes have matured their mentality toward bird watching and no longer need to take pictures to increase their awareness.
The bird watching group of the long gun sprint is the first impression of ordinary people on the bird watching circle Times Weekly reporter Li Guang/photo
The second is price. According to the White Frost Gull Heron, the telescope of Mrs. White Wren (net name) is superior, especially when looking at the poorly lit bushes, the picture is still bright and sharp, of course, the price is more expensive.
For the telescope alone, the White Frost Gull Heron family spent about 40,000 yuan.
Of course, the so-called "chain of contempt" does not mean that the upper echelons will use a critical eye to examine the birdwatchers for the purpose of shooting.
At the same bird watching event, at the lakeside of the South China Botanical Garden, more than a dozen bird-watching photography enthusiasts were luring birds, and they planted a yellow chrysanthemum on the dead branches of the lake, and the petals hid the bread worms they had sprinkled.
5 meters away, enthusiasts set up tripods and telephoto lenses, and sat precariously waiting for birds to fly into the scenery. They don't mind being watched by others, and they don't want to communicate too much, because any slightest movement of wind and grass may sting birds.
Most of the people's cognition of "burning money" in bird watching activities comes from such groups, but they are actually at the end of the chain of contempt in bird watching. They can't even identify the bird's name, and the way to lure the shot is also controversial in the bird watching industry.
This is guo Shichao's major concern about people's current perception of bird watching. As a person who has represented telescope products, after switching to public welfare, he does not recommend entering the bird watching circle in this way of burning money, which is not conducive to promoting the diversity of bird watching groups, and second, it will also make bird watching groups fall into the strange circle of competition equipment.
And another concern he has about bird watching groups is: Where are the young men?
Where did the man go?
Guo Shichao has been promoting bird watching activities in Guangzhou for 16 years. During this period, he co-founded the Guangzhou Nature Observation Association, the Flying Feather Association, and built a nature school in Haizhu Wetland Park.
According to him, in addition to audiophiles using professional equipment to watch birds, bird watching can be very casual. A telescope of tens of yuan and a book introducing flowers, birds, fish and insects have a basis for entering nature.
So over the years, many young people have also begun to watch birds. However, the age composition of bird watching groups is still polarized.
The elite group dominated by middle-aged people is characterized by a more academic, rich knowledge structure, in addition to financial and time guarantees; at the other end are primary and secondary school students, because bird watching has parent-child attributes.
In order to promote bird watching activities, Guo Shichao cooperated with various universities in Guangzhou to recruit volunteers who love nature observation. But what makes him feel strange is that in recent years, whether it is parent-child activities or volunteer recruitment, the proportion of women is expanding year by year.
Elementary and secondary school students watching birds at the migratory bird protection ceremony
"Almost all parents who bring their children to the activities are mothers, and the volunteer team, which was 1:2 male-female sex ratio five years ago, has now expanded to about 1:5." Guo Shijun said that it is generally believed that after entering puberty, women will be more precocious than men, which is reflected in the comprehensive consideration of the problem and more stable, but there may be other reasons for such a large proportion of gender imbalance.
Zhou Ziying, a second-year biology student at South China Normal University, introduced her to a bird every day two years ago. To get more out of the way, she became involved with bird watching and eventually volunteered with the Flying Feather Society.
She also found that among the volunteer community, the proportion of girls was greater. She said that girls are more accustomed to releasing the pressure of life and school in a natural environment, while boys are more homely.
Huo Xinglin is a first-year student at Guangzhou University, and an 80 yuan telescope has given her a year of bird watching experience, and so far, she has observed a total of 113 species of birds and become a volunteer of the Flying Feather Association. She also found that female volunteers were about 4 times as many as men.
They all agree that boys may be attracted to electronics. "I used to be obsessed with electronics and immersed in the illusory world inside, but then I found that the natural world was more real and more attractive, so I put down my phone." Huo Xinglin said.
As for why mothers also play a major role in parent-child activities, the answer they give is more general: on the one hand, they believe that the relationship between mother and child is more intimate, and on the other hand, mothers may have more time.
But Guo Shichao does not think so, he said that because of the pressure of work and life, men may use this as an excuse to choose the absence, but in outdoor activities, the father's companionship is actually more important than the mother, "outdoor activities have a lot of uncertainty and accidents, fathers usually behave more bravely when dealing with these problems, and the motivation effect will be more obvious for children." ”
But for young men, Guo Shichao said that "they have been attracted to electronic products." But no one can guarantee that these addictive boys will not, as they age, still maintain the trait of investing a lot of money and time in their preferences.
It is this trait that makes middle-aged men fall in love with Swarovski.
Perhaps this is the strange circle of urban people's growth. Women are constant in their own preferences, albeit changeable. And men who are easy to indulge, once they enter the society from the game life, when they ridicule the tepid bird watching contempt chain of middle-aged and elderly men, perhaps a coincidence will suddenly change into a person they could not understand when they were young.
This logic can be bird watching, fishing, even tea tasting, reading, calligraphy, hiking... Both.