12.13.09

Halfway through 《奋斗》

Posted in Pop Culture at 3:54 pm by Benjamin Ross

Well, I’m just over halfway finished with 《奋斗》 and wanted to check in with a few updates and observations. So far, I still agree with everything I previously wrote as to watching the show being an extremely efficient acquisition method. I’ve been spending about two hours a day to watching the show (time I probably should be devoting to grad school essays), and have already noticed improvements in my speaking ability, listening, and vocabulary.

As for the show itself, it’s entertaining…for me. If I were an educated Chinese person, I probably would have given up watching at about the fifth or sixth episode. First of all, the plot, while never dull, repeatedly rests on a series of ridiculously coincidental events. The main character, 陆涛, is an aspiring architectural student and just after he graduates college, discovers that his biological father 徐志森, whom he had been told was dead, was actually alive in the US, and moving back to China. 徐志森 just happens to be a millionaire real estate developer, and offers 陆涛 a job working for his company. After working for 徐志森 for several months, 陆涛 receives an offer to work for one of the top architectural firms in China. He leaves his 徐志森’s company to take the job. However, soon after he starts the new job, he is informed of an impending project with a new client. Who is this new client? Yup, it’s 徐志森’s company. So 陆涛 starts cooperating with 徐志森 on the new project, but soon faces a new nemesis. His stepfather, 陆亚迅, just happens to work for the 规划局 (Planning Bureau) and attempts to thwart 陆涛 and 徐志森’s real estate venture. The situation further complicated when 陆涛’s ex-girlfriend, 米莱, whom he had dumped in favor of her best friend 夏琳, goes into the real estate business (her father is also a millionaire real estate kingpin), solely as an chance to win back 陆涛.

Clockwise from the top left, 陆涛, 夏琳, 向南, 华子, 杨晓芸, and 米莱

In another unrelated scene, 杨晓芸 and 夏琳,who are close friends, run into each other at the abortion clinic (not entirely unbelievable based on the prevalence of abortion in the Middle Kingdom). However, neither of them is aware the other is pregnant, even though they talk every day. They both just happen to be waiting in the same line to get their abortions, on the same day, at the same abortion clinic. Now I guess this would all be somewhat plausible, if the story happened in some small village where everybody knows each other. But 《奋斗》 takes place in Beijing.

My other criticism of the show is its underlying message: essentially that the key to happiness is to make as much money is possible so you can buy a nicer house and car than your peers. In Chinese, this is called 瞎攀比, a phrase which is evoked frequently throughout the show. This is especially depicted by a character named 杨晓芸, who marries 陆涛’s friend 向南, shortly after their first date. 杨晓芸 is the prototypical 80s generation materialistic bitch, and constantly scolds 向南 because he doesn’t make as much money as 陆涛, and he drives an ugly old station wagon, as opposed to 陆涛’s Audi (陆涛 became a millionnaire just over a year out of college, so he’s not exactly an easy act to follow). 向南 for his part, is unsuave, whiney, oblivious to the needs of women, and convinced his wife regards their marriage as “heaven.” The couple are constantly at ends with one other, and 杨晓芸 refers to her marriage as the worst decision of her life. In one scene, while shopping in a mall, 向南 makes a comment about 杨晓芸’s mother. 杨晓芸 starts hitting and slapping him in public, as 向南 yells back, and a crowd gathers. The scene ends with 向南 crouched on the floor, surrounded by bystanders snapping photos with cell phones, crying, and yelling “She stole my heart. She stole my heart.” The two are painful to watch and I am eagerly awaiting the episode where they finally get divorced and vow never speak to one another again.

All that being said, the show does have its bright spots. My favorite character is the third lead male role, 华子. Unlike 陆涛 and 向南, 华子 did not go to college, and therefore has to take the blue collar struggle through life. He gets fired from his job as a used car salesman, and decides to open a barbershop, and then a cake store, with his girlfriend Lu Lu. Lu Lu is sweet, caring, not materialistic, and unlike the others, is not from Beijing (coincidence???). She appreciates 华子 for his character, (not his bank account), and the two have the healthiest relationship in the show. 华子 for his part is a joker, and provides most of the show’s comic relief, often in a self-deprecating fashion, as he is the only one who is not 白领 (white collar). He’s also by far and away the best actor of the cast.

《奋斗》 is entertaining enough that I’m going to continue watching the entire series, but from an artistic perspective, I’m starting to comprehend why my Chinese friends always tell me that Chinese shows are so lacking in quality. The cinematography is fair, the acting for the most part is sub-par, and the plot could have been concocted by a high school screenwriting class. Multiple Chinese friends have recommended that I watch the show 《蜗居》 which they say is both artistically worthwhile, and extremely controversial right now. So I think that’s going to be the plan once I finish with 《奋斗》 . In the meantime, I plan to watch 《奋斗》 in its entirety, and would be interested to hear comments from anybody else who might be watching.

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11.28.09

On the benefits of learning Chinese from television shows (Part 1)

Posted in Linguistics, Pop Culture at 1:52 am by Benjamin Ross

In the last few posts, I’ve been focusing on several of my own personal beliefs and opinions in regards to Chinese learning. By now most of you are probably quite familiar with my various stances on the topic. A few weeks ago I suggested 10 ways to study Chinese which are more useful than going to class. Of the 10, 9 were based primarily on personal experience. However, one of the methods, ironically the one which I believe provides the best path to advanced language mastery, I admittedly haven’t given much effort toward over the years. And this method would be…the power watching Chinese of television and movies.

So after all the discourse on Chinese learning, I decided to give Chinese television another shot. The most formidable hurdle with Chinese television…I’m not really sure how to put it nicely is…well, a severe lack in quality programming. While Chinese students lap up shows American shows to the point where I am no longer surprised when Chinese acquaintances ask me “Your last name is Ross, like Ross Geller?” or “If you date a Chinese girl, would you like her to be like Carrie or Miranda?” there has yet to be a Chinese show which has so captivated foreign audiences.

This has been my obstacle as well, and I owe a big “thank you” to Peter Jeziorek for suggesting I watch 奋斗 (Struggle). 奋斗 originally aired in 2007 and is one of the first shows to focus on the 八零后 generation, those born between 1980 and 1989, the first generation to grow up entirely during the years following the Reform and Opening Up. The main characters of the show are a group of friends who have recently graduated from college, and are dealing with the typical struggles which face young adults in China such as finding a job, love and marriage, and the looming burden of caring for one’s parents.

奋斗 is not the greatest show I have ever watched. The acting is fair. The story grows excessively corny at points. And the plotlines are predictable. But the characters are well-developed and it tackles enough realistic issues of Chinese society to make it both interesting and educational. So far, I’ve completed five episodes, and I am shooting to watch all 32, for two reasons. Firstly, it’s a much needed Chinese workout. Secondly, from a pedagogical perspective, I am curious what specific effects watching Chinese television will have on my language skills. If all goes well, expect more blogging as I get deeper into the project. But first I wanted to provide a few random observations and thoughts I’ve had up to this point.

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1) I call it “power watching,” because you don’t just sit back, relax, and watch a show all the way through. The method I have been employing entails watching each episode three times, pausing throughout to look up unfamiliar words, and replaying words and phrases which need to be added to my repertoire. I am quite convinced that had I been watching each episode only once, and without pausing and rewinding, the linguistic benefit would have been minimal.

2) For any method of language study to be efficient, it needs to be done every day. Therefore I have been spending 1-2 hrs per day, every day, in front of the screen, “studying.”

3) Often, I find instances where I am familiar with a phrase, but realize my inflection has been totally off, or a word for which I have been pronouncing the tone incorrectly. In these cases, I rewind several times and repeat the entire phrase out loud. This has served to both call attention to, and rectify, several long-ingrained mistakes and malapropisms.

4) Television shows have two major pedagogical advantages over movies. Firstly, watching, digesting, re-watching, and comprehending a thirty or forty minute shows is much more manageable (and practical) than doing so with a movie which could last two hours. Secondly, there is a certain sense of linguistic continuity that goes along with following the same characters episode to episode, which would not apply to movies, where each new film contains entirely new characters and concepts.

5) Certain aspects of the Chinese language cannot be taught or explained in words. They have to be felt. The example which comes to mind constantly as I watch 奋斗 is particles. There are no set rules for when you say 啊，嘛，呗，呀 or the multitude of other particle words which have no explicit meaning in Chinese. And for most of us laowai, we cope with this dilemma the easy way: we omit them. Although I still have a long way to go, I am starting to feel where and when I should throw a 呀 or a 哇 at into a sentence. It adds an entire new dimension to the tone of speech, and I’m going to pay special attention to this as I continue through 奋斗.

6) I suspect that the cultural benefits of watching a show based in modern times starring people roughly my age (I still have 2 more weeks of my 20s) are going to be significant. As a foreigner in China, you always affect a situation in a different way than you would had you been Chinese, especially those situations which involve yourself directly. Watching Chinese people interact with one another (albeit fictional Chinese people) has already provided me with cultural insight that probably would have been of considerable value in say…dealing with ex-girlfriends or professional endeavors.

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Between work and Chinese friends, the days in Chicago when I use Chinese generally outnumber those where I do not, so I’m already having ample opportunity to test out what I have learned. Roughly a week into this project, I’ve noticed expressions from 奋斗 have begun creeping into my idiolect (along with an 儿化音 taboot). But more importantly, I’m noticing subtle influence on my patterns of speech, specifically in regards to accent and delivery. It’s as if the voices of the characters are trapped inside my head and are providing an active template for my syntax and pronunciation.

Although it’s still early in the game, I would already say that hour for hour, watching 奋斗 has been the most efficient Chinese studying I’ve done in years. It wouldn’t have done much good at the early stages of my language study, but at this point I feel like it is going to be the absolute best way to continue to improve. If all goes as planned, I should be able to finish the show by the end of the year, and will hopefully have more observations in the weeks to come.

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07.01.09

Making a Fashion Statement in China

Posted in Fujian, Pop Culture at 5:38 pm by Benjamin Ross

It’s been several months since I’ve stepped foot in the Middle Kingdom.  However, my old cohort Rebecca McQuillen, is still in Fuzhou and recently logged these colorful snapshots (and captions) about fashion in China on her Facebook.  I have reproduced them here with her permission.

College girl look

Owner of local coffee shop; Her backpack is an over-sized teddy bear. Many adults wear and use things we in the West would consider for children only.

Arm protectors; seeing less and less of these, but many young women who work in offices still wear them at work. Offices get cleaned maybe once a year, so they are quite dirty.

school boys and me

These hats are a huge hit on Gulangyu Island in Xiamen.

countryside look

Colored hair is everywhere. Yet they dye bottle color, not much mixing or toning down. It is still in experimental stage. (I know this from first hand experience.) What I like about Rebecca’s work is that it provides a pretty accurate cross section of a society which is only 30 years into a complete upheaval of common social practices;  how individuals clothe themselves being a major component of this.  Most of Rebecca’s shots were taken in Fuzhou, where only a generation ago, such photography would have yielded nothing more than monotonous blue and gray suits, straight black hair, and nothing more than a “Quotations of Mao Zedong” book as an accessory.  As China continues to change and develop at a rapid pace, so too will the fashion tastes of the populace. Many of the fashions shown here (sans the “countryside look” of course) will probably be by the wayside in just a couple years.  It’s already looking vastly different from when I left Fuzhou, and that was only August of 2007.

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06.25.09

The 4th of July and Michael Jackson (repost)

Posted in Pop Culture at 10:10 pm by Benjamin Ross

originally posted 7/3/07

The 4th of July is the one time a year when us Americans can dress up in red, white, and blue, and drink beer and light fireworks as we sing off-key versions The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Its a day to eat bar-b-que, have block parties, and above all, celebrate. The reason for all the celebration, in theory, is to commemorate our Independence, and to be proud of being American. But what does it mean to be proud to be an American? Living in China, I often come across tiny moments which answer this question. The most recent of these came from an unexpected source.

Last weekend I was enjoying an evening with friends in a private room at a karaoke bar. After several hours of Chinese pop songs, one of my friends selected Michael Jackson’s Thriller to be played on the hi-fi. Unlike most Chinese karaoke videos, the Thriller video is the uncut version of the original.

As the first scene began with Michael proposing to his girlfriend, the normally raucous atmosphere of the karaoke room toned down to a curious movie watching mode. My friends’ eyes remained peeled to the screen as Michael morphed into a werewolf and chased his girlfriend through the woods. The frightened look in their eyes was suddenly spun around as the scene flashes to Michael and his girlfriend eating popcorn in the movie theater. Everybody in the room had been engaged, scared, shocked, and humored, and were now settling into the fact that this was not just a typical karaoke video.

As Michael danced down the street, heads bopped up and down to the bass notes of that famous Thriller instrumental loop. When the music faded and zombies emerged from tombs and man-holes, the girls began to squirm in their seats. As Michael danced with the zombies, the atmosphere reverted back to that of a karaoke room. Shots of beer were consumed, snacks were munched, and the group chitter chattered amongst each other.

The party atmosphere was broken once again when Michael’s girlfriend runs home only to find the zombies breaking into her living room. As the zombified Michael emerged, looks of fright and anxiety graced my friends’ faces one more time, only to be promptly swifted away as Michael reaches in to grab his girlfriend and then suddenly wakes her up from a dream. As Michael turned around and faced the camera with his glowing eyes, the karaoke crowd clapped with delight.

One of the girls turned to me, “Wow, I had no idea he was so handsome back then. He is really strange now.”

Michael Jackson was handsome in 1983. But it was not just his physical appearance. Michael could sing. He could dance. He had the red leather jacket. And his teaming with producer Quincy Jones and a skilled team of directors, actors, musicians, and choreographers, produced a 13 minute clip of pure genius. Watching the Thriller video in a karaoke room in Fuzhou in 2007, it is still every bit as fresh as it was when I saw it for the first time when I was only 4 years old. It’s a work of art, which has proven to cross not only borders of time but those of culture.

During the next song another one of my friends in the room turned to me, and referring to the Thriller video said “That was really incredible. There has never been anything done like this in China.”

Because of various factors, social, economical, political, demographical, and some purely coincidental, the United Sates is an environment where this kind of creative innovation has thrived for 400 years. As the world’s largest fondue pot of ethnic mixing, American culture has produced some of the world’s most profound innovations, personalities, and works of art from the last 400 years. From Thomas Edison to Bill Gates, from Huckleberry Finn to Homer Simpson, and from the Model T to Gmail, the cumulative achievements of American culture should make us all proud.

The Fourth of July is not only a time to celebrate our independence, but also a time to appreciate the achievements which have occurred since our independence. This Wednesday take a short break from the beer and bar-b-que to re-watch the Thriller video. Or read a few chapters from The Grapes of Wrath. Download a copy of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech. Pop in a CD of Duke Ellington, Bob Dylan, or Elvis Presley. Use an iPod. Watch The Simpsons. Listen to one of George Carlin’s stand up routines. Reread the American constitution. Rent The Godfather, or eat General Tso’s chicken.

If anybody asks why you are proud to be an American, you will have a list of reasons to give them. And then you can return to the beer, bratwursts, and a capella renditions of This Land is Your Land.

1958 – 2009

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05.10.09

The New Face of Sports in China

Posted in Olympics, Pop Culture, Society at 1:46 am by Benjamin Ross

Note: Due to the timeliness of the following post, I’ve taken a short break from “From the Delta to the Backwoods.” Expect another update to the series by the end of the week.

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August 18, 2008

On a scorching evening in Beijing, thousands of fans are pack into Workers Stadium to watch two international soccer powers collide in the semifinals of the Olympic Games.  Although people from around the globe have descended upon Beijing for the Olympics, the crowd arriving to watch Brazil battle Argentina is 90% Chinese.  In a country where soccer is embraced by the masses and visas to visit Western countries are not easily obtained, this is likely the most anticipated soccer match ever to take place on Chinese soil.  Of those lucky enough to get in, many have coughed up sums of up to 3000 RMB to purchase tickets from scalpers.

The capacity crowd at Beijing Worker’s Stadium eagerly awaits the kickoff of Argentina and Brazil, playing for a spot in the Gold Medal Game.

As the opening kickoff ensues, the crowd fixates on the field, hollering, cheering, and soaking in what may be their only chance ever to watch world class footballers in person.  Halfway through the first half, heads begin to turn in the lower section on the west side of the stadium, and a slow murmur morphs into a barrage of emotion and shouts.  Cheers erupt, cameras flash, and a euphoric mayhem ensues, as from out of the fan concourse emerges an athlete renowned and loved by sports fans across Middle Kingdom.  But ironically, the athlete drawing all the attention at this soccer spectacle not a soccer player himself.  Rather he has earned his fame indoors on the hardwood, as both an Olympian and a perennial NBA All-Star.  I think you know who I am talking about, right?  In a land where ping pong is king but basketball is the latest craze, this star has become the Bruce Lee of a new generation, with his image sprawled across billboards, and his name imprinted on backs of jerseys in the schoolyards of far-flung rural villages.  Yeah, you know exactly who I am talking about, don’t you?  Wanna guess?  I’ll give you one hint…It’s not Yao Ming.

As the newly arrived celebrity and his two acquaintances take their seats, the mob begins chanting in unison, “KE—BI, KE—BI, KE—BI.”  Before long the entire west side of the stadium has joined in the chant.  “KE—BI, KE—BI, KE—BI.”  “Kebi” is of course the Chinese name Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant.  Bryant, a purported fan of the Argentinean soccer squad, had just sat down to enjoy the match, as he was mobbed by a mass of autograph seeking, camera flashing, Chinese soccer fans.  It was as if the match between the two South American powers had been temporarily suspended, so that everyone in attendance could catch a brief glimpse of the NBA superstar.  Throughout the fiasco, which lasted roughly 15 minutes, chants of “KE—BI, KE—BI, KE—BI” continued to roar throughout the stadium.

Over the last decade, the NBA has rapidly been replacing soccer as the premiere spectator sport in China.  NBA fervor rose to a new level in 2002 when 7 foot 5 inch Yao Ming of Shanghai was selected as the first pick in the NBA draft by the Houston Rockets. Since then, Yao has played in 5 All-Star games, given proper lip service to his country and its leaders, and avoided any major off-the-court blemishes to his personal record.  But the main knock on Yao thus far been his failure to deliver a championship caliber team to the 5.7 million people in Houston (and the 1.4 billion in China).  The Rockets Yao-era post-season woes have caused some of the rage over China’s tallest celebrity to taper off of late.  Recent years have seen numerous Chinese fans who were once loyal devotees to the Houston Rockets, switch their allegiance over to the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant.  According to Jiang Yuan, a 26 year old NBA fan in Xiamen, “Pretty much everybody in China knows Yao Ming.  But among those people who really pay close attention to the NBA, Kobe is more popular.”

Kobe-mania is indeed spreading throughout the Middle Kingdom.  In addition to the billboards and jerseys, last summer at the Olympics, I ran into a group of college age Chinese boys who were all wearing yellow shirts with purple letters reading “I Love Kobe.”  This was at a beach volleyball event.  I didn’t go to see Kobe play live.  I couldn’t.  Tickets were nearly impossible to find and selling for over ten times their face value.  Even CCTV highlight shows, where were at one time were virtual play-by-play recaps of Yao’s performance, are increasingly focusing more time on China’s adopted favorite son.

Interestingly enough, the NBA’s other dominant figure, LeBron James, has yet to leave as much of a cultural imprint on China as has been done by Kobe in recent years.  Even CCTV announcers can be heard pondering, “Why isn’t LeBron James popular in China?”  One theory, suggested by Jiang, is that Kobe’s game is dependent on “elegance and form” while LeBron’s style is based primarily on raw strength.  “Chinese peoples’ bodies are not as strong as those of Westerners.  Therefore they prefer those players with elegant playing styles like Kobe and Michael Jordan,” Jiang says.  This may also serve to explain why Kobe’s fame is seemingly eclipsing that of Yao, whose game relies heavily on him standing a full head above most other players.

A young Chinese fan wears his basketball allegiance on his shirt.

With all this in mind, the current playoff series between the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers may bear more significance for Chinese NBA fans than any other in NBA history.  This is not the first time these two giants of basketball have competed against one another in the post season. Yao and Kobe faced each other in the post-season in the first round of the 2004 playoffs, with LA easily disposing of the Rockets in five games, and most attention focused on the nominal rivalry between Yao and Shaquille O’Neal.  At that juncture, Kobe had yet to completely emerge as the MVP-caliber player he is today, and Yao was still a scrawny second year player, being dominated in the post by a formidable Shaq Diesel in his prime.

Fast forward to 2009 and China’s two favorite NBA stars are both posting career seasons and battling out a best-of-seven series in the second round of NBA Playoffs.  For Yao, a win against to Lakers could regain some of the ground he has already lost to Kobe as China’s foremost NBA superstar.  And for Kobe, a win puts him one small step closer to winning his first post-Shaq championship, and an even more devoted legion of Chinese Laker fans.

Few NBA enthusiasts would assert that the Rockets have much of a chance to win a championship in 2009, let alone take the series from the Lakers.  At the same time, the Lakers, assuming they handle the Rockets, will still presumably have their hands full in the NBA Finals against the red hot Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James.  Nonetheless, this series represents a potential crossroads for China’s two most-beloved NBA stars and could have considerable implications on their standings in the higher order of Chinese basketball deities.  One thing is for certain though.  You don’t need to be Chinese to become the king of basketball in China.  Just ask Chinese soccer fans.

Addendum: Just as I was putting the finishing touches on this post, it was announced that Yao Ming has a broken foot and will be out the rest of the Playoffs.

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02.26.09

Graffiti in the Middle Kingdom

Posted in Pop Culture at 1:28 pm by Benjamin Ross

While certainly popular among certain circles of Chinese youth, hip hop culture hasn’t quite achieved the cultural relevance in the Middle Kingdom as it has in say…the middle-class Midwestern 99% white suburb where I grew up.  So it came as a pleasant surprise to see this collection of Chinese graffiti sprawled across the walls of an underpass on the campus of Shanghai Jiaotong University.

Interestingly enough, one country where hip hop culture has caught on among the masses, and is the preeminent form in Western cultural diffusion, is Mongolia.  Teens listening to rap music, graffiti (seen below), hip hop fashions (also below), and corn rows (unfortunately not pictured) are an everyday sight in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator, and considerably more prevalent than in Mongolia’s powerful southern neighbor.

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08.18.08

Picture of the Day: Chairman Shaq

Posted in Olympics, Pop Culture, Society at 6:42 pm by Benjamin Ross

There was a long period in Chinese history where most 50 foot statues were constructed in the image of one particular individual.

Nope, that’s not the Great He1msman, but rather the Great Diesel, greeting beach volleyball fans to Chaoyang Park.

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07.08.08

Michael Jordan and the Great Wall

Posted in Personal Anecdotes, Pop Culture at 10:07 am by Benjamin Ross

Whenever you are a foreigner out walking the streets in China, you usually get asked where you are from at least about 1.5 times per hour. When I would tell people I’m American, the next logical question is always “What city?” This is when things would get complicated.

“Kansas City,” I would reply. (Hardly anybody in China has heard of Kansas City, just as hardly anybody in the US has heard of Fuzhou).

“Kansas…you mean Texas, right?” was the most common reply. The Chinese word for “Kansas” and the word for “Texas” are somewhat similar, so it’s an understandable mistake. Ultimately, many Chinese people have in fact heard of the state of Kansas, but they have never heard of Kansas City, which by in large is in Missouri.*

To make matters simple, I decided on this trip to just tell casual inquirers that I am from Chicago. I’ve only lived there 10 months, so I am far from being a native, but it’s simpler than explaining that Kansas is not the same as Texas, and that Kansas City is actually located in Missouri, not Kansas. So far, I have not run into a single Chinese person who hasn’t heard of Chicago. However, when it comes to Windy City, nobody makes mention of the Sears Tower, Michigan Avenue, or even deep dish pizza. From school children to cab drivers to the guard in front of my apartment complex, the first words from the mouth when Chicago is mentioned are invariably 公牛队 (gong1 niu2 dui4) and 乔丹 (qiao3 dan1), “The Bulls” and “Michael Jordan.”

Michael Jordan is such a household name in China that I shouldn’t have been surprised the other day when I saw this item selling at the Mutianyu Great Wall.

In the middle of the image, next to the stone carvings of dragons, tigers, the Great Wall, and other sino-imagery, you can see one of MJ yelling to his teammates. He is the only athlete whose bust I have ever seen on such a souvenir. I couldn’t even find one of Yao Ming. The fact that this rendering of an American athlete, at China’s most famous tourist attraction, certainly speaks volumes about his popularity in the Middle Kingdom. The rage over basketball has exploded in China over the past few decades, and Michael Jordan, willing or not, has become its de facto cultural ambassador. While many Chinese fans today identify more with Kobe Bryant or Allen Iverson, Michael Jordan is still viewed as the face of the game, and thus its him, not Kobe or even Yao, who gets his face on the Great Wall souvenir.

*Technically, there is a Kansas City, KS also, but the main urban center is Kansas City, MO. Many Americans don’t seem to be aware of this either.

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11.21.07

Oldies but Goodies…Not in China

Posted in Pop Culture at 1:59 pm by Benjamin Ross

Chinese popular music is not for everyone. When I say “not for everyone,” I am referring to those citizens of the world who are neither a) part of China’s roughly 1.5 billion inhabitants or b) have been in China long enough to be desensitized to the point where they can open up to the idea that not all Chinese pop is as horrendous as that which dominates 99% of the radio waves.

This past weekend, a friend from Fuzhou came to visit me in Chicago. Accordingly, I set my iTunes to play some of my own personal favorite Chinese artists, including Zheng Zhi Hua, Wu Bai, and the now-defunct Hong Kong rock band Beyond. In the middle of Beyond’s anthem 抗战二十年, I asked my friend what she thought of the song.

“It’s so…old,” was her response. This would not be so significant if it weren’t for that this is the same response I get 99% of the time when asked by Chinese people who my favorite Chinese singers are. The “It’s so…old” is usually accompanied by a non-verbal but completely understood, “You are such a dork for listening to that stuff from the 80’s and 90’s.”

Old or not, I have found that most of the Chinese pop music I can stand to listen to does come from the previous two decades. Over the past decade most Chinese popular music has increasingly devolved into the shells of shallow American pop songs, with their words replaced by even sappier Chinese lyrics. The artists mentioned above, while not musically spectacular, do have a certain element of soul to their music which is absent in most contemporary Chinese pop.

So now consider the my situation had it been in the United States. If I were to tell several American friends that two of my favorite musical groups were U2 and the Talking Heads, would it elicit a response of “Gosh, those guys are so old”? My guess is probably not.

China is in currently the midst of a period of change more rapid than at any other point in its history. Many observers would argue that the greatest mass improvement in living standards in human history has also come at the expense of one of the world’s longest lasting cultures.

To say that the musical group Beyond is anything more than a footnote in China’s 5000 year history would be a stretch. But in terms of the short history of rock music in China, Beyond is as influential on the Chinese scene as the Beatles or the Rolling Stones would be to that of the West.

Discounting cultural works, especially music, on account of them being old (but not necessarily out of date), is nothing foreign to the China or the US. But the degree of street cred I lose from confessing to liking artists such as Beyond, Zheng Zhi Hua, and Wu Bai does leave me a little worried about the future of music in the Middle Kingdom. And if popular music is indeed a microcosm of Chinese culture itself, then we could be headed towards a period of even more drastic change than we have seen in the past few decades. As for me, I will still be listening to Beyond and the Talking Heads.

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08.16.07

What’s wrong with Chinese TV?

Posted in Pop Culture at 8:02 pm by Benjamin Ross

After almost a month as the co-host of “I Love Health” I am beginning to understand a thing or two about Chinese TV.  The major observation I often hear about Chinese TV (from Chinese and foreigners alike) is that it is full of low quality programming.  I now have several Chinese close friends with good English who frequently download American TV shows from the Internet.  They all have all unequivocally told me that the American shows are superior to Chinese ones, and say that when given the choice, they would never watch a Chinese TV program over an American one too.   Based on my own personal limited exposure to Chinese television (and TV as a whole), I would have to say I agree with this assertion.

There are several theories why Chinese TV is so…how can I put this nicely?…crappy.  One is that the Chinese education does not emphasize creativity and arts as much as that of the West, and this is reflected by the film and television industry.  While there is truth to this statement, I think it only represents a piece of the puzzle.  Another factor is the relative youth of the Chinese TV/film industry.  While the industry itself is not that young, it must be put into perspective that only three decades ago, the only TV and films permitted were those glorifying the Communist Party.

But another reason I am finding for the severe lack of quality programming in China is massive dilution of the talent pool.  Much of this is because the Chinese media is still runs essentially like a 单位 (danwei), the old work units which were the building blocks of Socialism.  While private enterprise is rapidly rendering the concept of a danwei job obsolete, government offices, schools, public hospitals, and the media all still operate under the old danwei system.  What this means is endless levels of hierarchy, webs of bureaucracy, and at the very top cadres with leather day planners who don’t seem to do any actual work, but somehow have the highest salaries and the personal drivers.

Chinese TV operates under this system.  Chinese TV has 3 levels:   Central Television (CCTV) which is based out of Beijing, provincial television, and city television.  CCTV is available all over China.  Provincial channels are usually available regionally (i.e. Fujian Provincial TV in most Southeastern provinces, as well as most major cities), and local channels are typically only available in the cities they are broadcast from.

Unlike the US however, where local stations are typically only responsible for local news, in China local stations are often responsible for their own programming.  Because of this, production, directing, and acting talent are all spread around the country, rather than being focused on several major TV networks, and then syndicated across the country.  Consider my show as an example.  My co-host, Zheng Zheng, is only one year out of college.  She is attractive, speaks perfect Mandarin, and does a decent job reporting news with me on “I Love Health.”  However, she is probably one of several thousand, and would not stand a chance compared to the announcers on CCTV.  Then there is Ting Ting who writes and directs all of our material.  Ting Ting does an excellent job preparing the material, and coaching Zheng Zheng and my performance.  However, she just graduated college this spring…with an advertising degree…and she is the writer for a TV show.  I know friends in the US who studied screen writing 4 years in college, waited tables in Hollywood another 4, and still never got their chance to write anything.  Then of course there is me.  Granted I speak Chinese, but so do several tens of thousands of other foreigners in China.  I think I do a moderately decent job overall as an announcer, but there is no chance I would be on TV if shows if they were all centralized, even accounting for the fact I am a Westerner.

When you consider how dispersed the talent is over China, it starts to become clear why programming is so sub-par.  The last two shows I was a contestant on, SuperMe and Superstar were both ripoffs of the famous Hunan TV show Super Girls, which is the famous Chinese clone of American Idol.  They were both were produced by Fujian provincial TV, yet had no local connection to Fujian.  Instead, they were just another one of the several hundred American Idol ripoffs currently in production in China.  I can’t help but posit that if TV were centralized, and they rounded up all of the best talent from the hundreds of stations across the country, held try-outs, and began production with a top-notch staff, the quality would vastly improve.  Instead, what we are stuck with are hundreds of small local TV stations, all producing their own redundant clones of the same TV shows.

Personally, I sense that a big reason TV centralization has yet to occur is because it would necessitate a restructuring of the system.  This would require firing a great deal of the TV deadweight (cadres) as well as trimming down the personnel to only the best the country has to offer.  This would not bode well with most of the people who would have the power to bring about such a change, and also would stand to cause considerable “instability,” the ultimate pet peeve of the CCP.  Until this happens, we are probably stuck with the same stagnant programming.

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