Text/Wu Lichuan
At the beginning of September this year, the adult version of the "cat and mouse" game, which can be played for only 9.9 yuan or 16.8 yuan for one night, became popular in major cities across the country. According to incomplete statistics, more than 40 cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Chongqing, Suzhou and Hangzhou have appeared corresponding "hide and seek" communities and offline activities.
Someone asked, is this nostalgia or social, sporty? In the author's opinion, all three situations exist. In many cases, the rise of a new way of playing is a concrete interpretation of collective consciousness in reality. Without the mobilization of various factors including nostalgia, socialization, sports, and interaction, many popular methods will lose their support. In recent years, the "popularity" of old games such as rolling hoops in some urban communities also confirms the resonance of people in many aspects such as emotional needs and value recognition. As the number of people playing "peek-a-boo" and hoop-rolling continues to expand in the city, so does our understanding of related activities.
In the context of the national fitness boom, activities such as "hide and seek" have re-entered the "fashion frontier" of the city, rewriting and expanding the content of urban fashion, which is essentially people's higher pursuit of health needs. Needless to say, "hide and seek" is a reflection of the primordial power of human beings through the cooperation of two people or a group of people—sometimes a tacit understanding of the truth, similar to "catching prey". And its fun and convenience are also convenient to attract more people to "get off".
Just as the marathon originated from war communication and mankind's desire for victory, "hide and seek" also shows the connotation of people's pursuit of a greater sense of achievement in a certain sense. These contents are obviously based on folk sports and form a different landscape.
Don't underestimate the athletic attributes of "peek-a-boo". "Peek-a-boo" requires multiple uses of physical strength, intelligence, and luck throughout the whole process, which is an incentive for human comprehensive competitive ability. It is worth mentioning that at the Hangzhou Asian Games, there is a competition called Kabaddi, which has a high confrontation and is known as the "high-end version of the eagle catching the chicken" in the folk. Not to mention whether "peek-a-boo" may become a certain competition in the future, but it is necessary to recognize the sports attributes of "peek-a-boo" and applaud the popularity of this sport in the city.
But if it is just a sport, "hide and seek" may not be enough to expand into a "national project". Undoubtedly, this activity, which originated in ancient times, has made an indelible contribution to the warmth and friendship of many children in the collective bond in the old material barren times. The thrill of seeking and chasing inspired by "hide and seek" in childhood has always stayed in the hearts of Chinese people and has become one of the activities with the most collective identity in the spiritual world of Chinese. When people find that this activity can be played by adults, it also reorganizes people's living memories on a wider scale, and at the same time brings good expectations.
In an interview with the media, Wang Nan, an associate researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the "hide and seek" game is a game spawned by young people out of emotional and social needs, but this psychological satisfaction will not last long, because the connection between participants will not have a deep connection like the childhood "hide and seek" game, which means that the participants of the game gather quickly and disperse quickly. This view is very reasonable, in fact, the relevant platform data shows that the number of people who sign up for the game of "hide and seek" every night in major cities has dropped from an average of 40 to 10.
But what is certain is that today it is "hide and seek" popular, and tomorrow it will be shuttlecock kicking and rope skipping are popular, which will not hinder the branches of "childhood play" from extending in urban space. What's more, in this process, activities such as "hide and seek" are also very likely to be upgraded and iterated. The egg breaking project has developed from northern Jiangsu, taken root in many places, and there are various versions of the gameplay, which is proof.
In other words, we don't have to mind the ups and downs of certain activities, because we can always find ways to delight our bodies and minds and arouse more of our kind. This is a major sign that urban civilization has moved to a new level.
(The author is a veteran media commentator)
(Yangcheng Evening News Times Review Submission Email:
Source | Yangcheng Evening News, Yangcheng Pie
Picture | Screenshots of the network
Editor-in-charge | Zhang Qi, Jiang Xueyuan
Proofreading | Peng Jiye