Dean’s scavenger hunt for cheer is from the summer 2025 issue of VICE magazine: THE REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL ISSUE. To subscribe to four print issues each year, click here—or buy the summer issue on its own.

China is a cheerful and optimistic place. There are signs of this everywhere. Signs that say, “ENJOY LIFE”and “GREAT” and “HAPPY.” In the window of a café are the bright burning words: “Everything we do is to remind us that life is good.” I cannot imagine seeing that in London and certainly not in New York. Folk here don’t seem unusually jolly, but the signs are everywhere.

A giant Balenciaga ad in the arrivals hall at Shanghai Pudong International shows a Chinese lad in a very wide cropped jacket, massive jeans, and long dress shoes that curl up at the front. He looks like a Venetian

See Full Page