From the article:
“This could be a good way for people to understand skateboarders more in China. Just because it’s so frowned upon here,” Johnny said. “Chinese people think you’re just a person who has nothing better to do. You don’t have a job, you don’t have a family, you just play your skateboard.”
When did skateboarders start caring about how the average joe perceives them, exactly? Why does skateboarding have to be branded to the masses? I'm not certain selling out is the only possible progress. Sometimes I actually do really miss the (obviously long gone) pre-THPS days when nobody had a fucking clue what it was that we were doing up their street trying to jump onto everything. I don't want to get kicked out of spots by dads who think they can give me tips on back tails because they've seen a few on TV, to have to resort to a skatepark full of the motherfucker's offspring on scooters, unmonitored. I'm all for as many kids as possible to ever get to catch a glimpse of skating and start doing it, but only if there's something special left in it that they can find and grow from; and I'm all for social harmony, but going at it that way just dilutes the culture and ensures that it never leaves the mall again.