Shanghai is the fast-beating heart of China's aggressively consumerist cultural body—the ultimate commercial city of the contemporary world—dotted with unlicensed Apple stores and awash with ubiquitous fake LV bags. Supersized, fluorescent advertising billboards mounted on boats cruise down the Bund after dark, championing specific brands of soft drinks or heartburn medicine while painting the river neon bright. In modern-day Shanghai, authenticity is a rare commodity, found only in the city's hidden pockets. One such pocket is a lively corner of People's Square, colloquially named Love Park, the unofficial hub of Shanghai's diverse skate scene.
Shanghai resident since 2008, Johnny (known on the web as J Mart) has been documenting the tricks and antics of Shanghai skateboarders with his trusty iPhone or Canon 550D and generating plenty of hype on Weibo—China's alternative to Twitter—along the way. For skateboarding updates around the country, he also recommends Skatehere.com. At the moment, he's working on a series of small clips called 'DailyDozens': 1 skater, 1 day, 1 location, 12 tricks. Each one is filmed at a different local hotspot, showcasing the unique environments of the city as well as the diverse talent (which includes local greats such as Jay Meador, Boss Xie and Chu Wei). It's clear to see that in a very raw and grassroots social media kind of way, the skateboarding community here is transcending barriers and proving non-commercial, non-conformist sub-cultures can emerge and thrive in the heart of modern-day Shanghai. And Love Park isn't the only spot that's attracting skaters these days. Before he signs off, JMart gives me a full run-down of the city's best sites for skating—a mix of old haunts and new developments that are sure to keep Shanghai's distinctive skateboarding scene busy for a long time to come.