Marketing is essential, both for the brand and the product, and its top-level is when it becomes the backbone of the brand’s positioning and identity. Here we are in the twenty-first century, experiencing world class marketing all around us everywhere all at once. First, let’s play a game (anonymously). Did you know that a luxury brand famous for its pearls actually sell 100% fake ones? They are all plastic pearls, but at a luxury price. Their founder decided to make pearls o

Sport in the 21st century has changed, a lot. Athletes are not only the exceptional human beings who can do what most can’t with their bodies and minds, but also they are icons and symbols of icons, influence, and wealth. So why is this becoming the trend and how can this be decoded? Let’s dive right in. First of all, we have to think about sport as a talent or a skill that can be quickly monetized, especially since it is also a job and one’s success is also due to their capa

This year, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding evoked a lot of discourse online. After their wedding Taylor changed her name to Taylor Kelce. This is obviously a tradition for a lot of Western families (taking the husband’s last name) but in China, this does not exist because our names are structured with our surname being in front of our given name so it is naturally integrated into our full name rather than seen separately. Thus, a lot of people see this whole taking th

By the time this article is out, school would’ve started for a while now, and I want to take this opportunity to talk about my take on school’s appearance requirements for students, inspired by a stand-up competition show that was playing in China throughout the summer. The show had so many great stand-up comedians talk about their experiences either back when they were still in high school or at the workplace, and there was this one lady who talked about her experience being

China has a smoking problem. More and more people are starting to realize this but for me, I feel like this issue should’ve been resolved years ago. This Summer, my mom and I went to Changsha together for a few days. We live in Guangdong, which is not far from Changsha, so we decided to go by train. I haven’t been to the train station in a while and when I tell you the biggest difference is actually not that we don’t have printed tickets anymore, it is the smoking issue on th

I will be going back to school in few days, so this is a recap of the summer of 2026, from your teenage reporter, Margaret. First of all, as a figure skater, this summer is a very good one because Russian skaters are back! The competition that we got to see them debut at is the Xian junior grand prix, which they all did so well in. They won in all four categories: men’s single, women’s single, pairs, and ice dance. One of my friends also got her first junior grand prix medal

I am a figure skater, and I started to skate back in kindergarten. Back then, it was just for fun, an activity that just filled the nap time after lunch. I had a friendly and supportive coach who gave me the chance to compete in my first ever skating competition. He was really nice to me, and skating was merely a part of my life and a hobby that I loved to do. It didn’t require me to do anything extra to satisfy the sport or anyone else. All of this changed dramatically, when

You may have noticed in many sports that a lot of the world’s top athletes win World Championships, but not the Olympics. As a figure skater myself, this is a pattern that is very commonly seen and it is heartbreaking to see athletes who break endless records not win one of the biggest competitions of their lives. So why is that and what makes the Olympics so significant? To me, the first very obvious reason that I think of in terms of the difference between the Olympics and

This week, we are celebrating Russian skaters coming back to figure skating! Some of you might not know, but I am a figure skater, and I did train a lot when I was younger, but now, just practicing by myself. So for me, as both a skater and a fan of the sport, this is obviously a big moment this year. The fact that skaters are coming back to the sport means a lot of things because first, Russian skaters have been banned every since the Russian-Ukraine conflict in 2022 after t

Some of the world's biggest celebrities and entertainment companies are bringing their work to China—from Hollywood blockbusters like Spider-Man: Brand New Day, to fashion nostalgia through The Devil Wears Prada 2, to Rihanna expanding Fenty Beauty into the Chinese market, China has become more than just another audience. It has become one of the most important places where global culture is created, influenced, and monetized. The reason behind this shift starts with one simp

K-pop is now officially everywhere. Even if you are someone who doesn’t know much about it, you probably have heard the names of groups such as BLACKPINK, BTS, or Stray Kids. Those groups are more than just pop groups, they are a full identity to each of the idols in them, a full set of personality and empire, that takes over fans’ social media feed, music feed, and also part of their wallets. But what’s behind all of the glamor on stage? Is there anything else the companies

Media is everywhere, it is how we connect with other people and know about what is happening around us and beyond. What is portrayed in the media is how we see the world—and sometimes, it can make or break our vulnerable and impressionable perceptions of the world. This also connects to a speech and article that I learned in English class at school—Danger of a Single Story—by Chimamanda Adichie, which is about her experiences of seeing the world and the world seeing her throu

After learning about Of Mice and Men in English Literature class at school, Euphoria Season 3 also aired. Of course, I was getting clips of the new season (more like every episode update) of it every day and that gave me the chance of seeing both works from a very different perspective. Some people might think that Euphoria is just a reflection of teenagers who are not “focused” in life, but there is a lot more to that, as it is a reflection of the impossibility of the Americ

I have a very exciting announcement to make: this blog will now be connected to the Teenaged Thoughts podcast! You can access this podcast on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/@TeenagedThoughtsPodcast and from now on, every podcast topic will be the same as every blog topic posted, and I will be posting new episodes and articles on the podcast and the blog once every week, and this is will become my safe space to share what I have with the world and to also share more passi

Whenever I skate, I always think about the skaters I admire and their spins and footwork that I would rewatch over and over again because of how much grace it has, and I would then look at my own skating moves and realize ow much of a difference my movements has with the professional skaters’. I would always try my best to mimic it and try to do it in the way I want to, but then it will always turn out in a way that does not look as good. So, in this case, I would fear that t

I came across this video on WeChat channels the other day on this girl who is also a figure skater, talking about how after a conversation with her coach, she realized that passion isn’t always “smiles and motivation and waking up early because you can’t wait”. Passion also looks like tears of pain, frustration, and moments of catastrophe. To me as a skater and a person who is juggling quite a few projects at once, I feel the same. I love what I do. Whether that is in school

After the Milan Winter Olympics, my playlist has welcomed a few new songs, which are the songs skaters have used for their programs, such as The Lost Crown, Dies Irae, MacArthur Park, Fear by NF, Promise, and of course, Viva la Vida. Those songs always bring me back to when the skaters skated their programs and I watched them on the TV in my living room. As amazing as they are, I also thought of another song (other than Viva la Vida) that would encapsulate the vibes and the O

So much has already happened this year in my life—the Olympics ending, the new school semester starting, going to musical practice, starting new projects, refining old projects, etc. I am still in the process of recovering from the sadness of seeing the Olympics end, but school starting has made me shift my perception of it. On my to-do list, there is always this task of “watch the Olympics ONE LAST TIME” because for me to watch the Olympics on the TV screen, I had to buy a M

Recently, school has just started after the Chinese New Year holiday, and that marks the beginning of another semester. This means homework and school work is piling up again, and that goes alongside my extracurricular work. This means that not only do I have 8 hours of school, the time that I have to myself is limited to only 5 hours after school and maximum 0.5 hour before school. This is very little compared to having the whole day to myself during the holidays. I still fe

I reflected on the Milan Winter Olympics and there is one detail that I have not completely thought through. So many athletes are having their last Olympics, and all the happiness and sadness and regrets and all the moments they have been through, is what I like to talk about today. Let’s provide a quick list of figure skaters who will be retiring this season or immediately after the Olympics. Madison Chock and Evan Bates will be retiring after the World Championships. Sui We