[Event Impressions Part 3] China’s “Super Furry Fusion” & “Winter Furry Fusion”!
In part 3 of our Event Impressions series, we would like to introduce two conventions that take place in China: “Super Furry Fusion (极兽聚)” & “Winter Furry Fusion (冬兽聚)”!
This time we have interviewed Kotsuki (Twitter: @HYkotsuki), one of the organizer of these conventions.
Masato:
Please tell us how Super Furry Fusion (SFF) and Winter Furry Fusion (WFF) came to be.
Kotsuki:
At the beginning of 2018, Ernao (Twitter: @ernaonao), who had previous experience with organizing big events noticed that although there were a lot of furries in China, there wasn’t any convention event tending to their fandom needs yet. So he gathered some friends and together we founded the Super Furry Fusion organization committee!
The 1st Super Furry Fusion was a great success, so one of the fursuit owners in the committee suggested creating another convention that focuses solely on fursuiting. That’s how at the end of 2019, after a lot of trial and error while planning, Winter Furry Fusion was formed.
Masato:
I’ve seen some of the photos the participants at both conventions took on Twitter and the event space looked huge. Can you tell us more about the venues?
Kotsuki:
The conventions are held in Shanghai, China; SFF at the Grand New Palace Banquet & Convention Centre (雅悦新天地会展中心), and WFF at the Crowne Plaza Shanghai Xiayang Lake Hotel (夏阳湖皇冠假日酒店). Both venues are huge! XD
However, in 2021 both SFF and WFF will be held at different venues.
Masato:
I see. When you hold an event in a big place like that, naturally the convention itself gets bigger, so I guess you have a lot of foreign visitors too, right? Is there any support for visitors who need help with transportation and hotel bookings?
Kotsuki:
As for WFF, we reserve the whole hotel for the convention and support anyone who wants to make room reservations or purchase tickets.
For SFF, we can help foreign visitors with finding a hotel that fits their desired price range, travel distance to the venue, and so on. We also cooperate with some hotels. Most overseas visitors get help from their friends when they reserve rooms, or they stay at their friends’ place, though.
Masato:
It’s nice to have a friend whose place you can stay at. You could even have afterparties at home and meet many new people!
Speaking of making friends and social interaction, for that obviously you need a place to communicate with people. I’ve heard of the official QQ group chat for SFF/WFF participants from China, but are there any communities other than QQ?
Kotsuki:
At the moment the QQ group chat serves as our main community. In 2019 we opened a LINE group for foreign SFF participants, but it was used only for one event. As soon as the worldwide situation with COVID-19 calms down, we would like to create a more stable group chat or community to continuously keep in touch with foreign guests, not just a 1-time chat thing.
Masato:
We are looking forward to that!
Since I have no trouble understanding Chinese, when I want to know something I can simply check the SFF/WFF official website (FurryChina.com). But I think most foreign people can’t read Chinese, so are you planning to release information in different languages as well?
Kotsuki:
Yeah, actually we’ve been thinking about that for a while. Unfortunately due to COVID-19, we had to stop making plans for multilingual communication for the time being. When the situation gets better, we would like to release information in many different languages.
Masato:
While we’re at it - as both conventions are quite big, where can you find information like the venue map and the event schedule?
Kotsuki:
Usually, we publish those on our official website or the two websites Weibo (@极兽聚) and BiliBili (@极兽聚). Also on the day of the convention, every convention visitor will receive a pamphlet that contains information about schedules, maps, event introductions, and the likes. As for other languages than Chinese, those will be published on our official Twitter (@FurryChina) once the circumstances around COVID-19 have resolved.
Masato:
Well, let’s hope that the impact of COVID-19 lessens soon!
Can you tell us how people who are interested in SFF/WFF can reach out to you?
Kotsuki:
The best way to contact us is via DM on Twitter (@FurryChina). And since I’m the one who’s responsible for overseas correspondence, you can also just drop me a message: (@HYkotsuki).
Masato:
By the way, how many people in total usually visit SFF/WFF? How many of them take part in a fursuit?
Kotsuki:
At SFF 2019, we counted about 2,000 participants with 300 of them in fursuits. This number dropped significantly due to COVID-19 in 2020, so there were only about 800 people and 200 fursuiters at WFF 2020.
Masato:
Super Furry Fusion and Winter Furry Fusion are held at different places and times. Is there a difference between the two conventions themselves?
Kotsuki:
The biggest difference is probably their duration because SFF is a 1-day convention while WFF lasts for 3 days and 2 nights.
SFF is a mix of diverse activities. During the convention, there are elements such as the creation and sale of goods, fursuit stage performances, photography, and more. Of course, there are places for the fursuiters to rest and interact with each other as well.
WFF on the other hand focuses more on fursuit activities. This means more elements of the event are aimed towards fursuiters or people who are interested in fursuiting. There are also numerous fursuit-oriented events, such as dance parties (高能派対).
Masato:
Compared to other furry conventions like JMoF in Japan or Anthrocon in the U. S., is there anything in particular that makes SFF and WFF stick out?
Kotsuki:
I don’t think there is an essential difference between SFF/WFF and other overseas conventions. The only difference is that they provide an opportunity for furries in China to get together.
We are currently preparing for the 4th SFF and the 3rd WFF. Looking at it from our overseas seniors’ perspective, we are still at the beginning. We still have a lot to learn from them. In the future, we want to incorporate the pop culture of China to make SFF and WFF more unique, but we are still in the process of exploring this.
Masato:
Right, it’s important to have something that makes your events unique. What do you think is currently the most important point of interest of SFF/WFF?
Kotsuki:
Since both conventions focus on different aspects of the fandom, their points of interest also differ from each other.
SFF focuses on a balance of all aspects of the furry fandom, so there are many different things to do. Whether you want merchandise, illustrations, or doujinshi (self-published print works) or just want to interact with fursuiters, whatever your needs are, you will find what you want there.
WFF is completely centered on fursuit activities. It’s a convention of fursuiters, made by fursuiters for fursuiters, and the point is for all participants to interact and have fun with fursuits.
Masato:
Thank you very much for answering so many questions today! One last thing, I’d love to know when you are planning to hold the next SFF and WFF!
Kotsuki:
The next Super Furry Fusion is planned for the end of July or August 2021*, and the next Winter Furry Fusion for December 2021.
If the COVID-19 situation improves until then, I hope that many people come to visit us!
Note: The organizer has announced the next SFF will happen on August 1st, 2021.
Masato:
Thank you for the interview, Kotsuki!
For anybody who has gained interest in SFF and WFF now, please go ahead and check the links below!
Super Furry Fusion/Winter Furry Fusion Official Website:
Super Furry Fusion/Winter Furry Fusion on Weibo:
Super Furry Fusion/Winter Furry Fusion on BiliBili:
https://space.bilibili.com/305470882
Super Furry Fusion/Winter Furry Fusion on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/furrychina/