The Nanfang / Blog

In Praise of…KTV

Posted: 10/5/2014 11:00 am

Those of us who came to China in the years building up to the Beijing Olympics are watching the things that made China China disappear. These include internet bars, street barbecue (or at least its credibility as a safe option), and now karaoke bars, better known as KTVs.

KTVs are expensive to run and, on top of the fact that karaoke is a relatively expensive pastime, there are several reasons why a night at a KTV might be a hard sell. There are the tinny soundtracks, the over-priced drinks, the low-budget videos, and of course the non-professional singers. Karaoke is not as individualized, free, or unpredictable as open mic, but the popularity of karaoke represents some dizzying societal changes, most of which are positive.

A typical KTV room, image courtesy of Baidu

Why lyrics matter and why that matters

The karaoke machine was one of two Japanese inventions of the 1970s that revolutionised the way we enjoy music. Whereas the walkman, which was first marketed by Sony in 1979, was developed by engineer Nobutoshi Kihara at the request of then-Sony co-chairman Masaru Ibuka, the karaoke machine was an inadvertent success after being invented by musician Daisuke Inoue to give singers the chance to perform without a backing band.

In the 80s and 90s it spread throughout the world and became one of the most popular social activities in Greater China. This rise coincided with the glittering career of Teresa Teng, the Taiwanese pop star who was said to rule China by night while Deng Xiaoping ruled it by day.

Her song “The Moon Represents My Heart” – one of the biggest Mandopop hits of the 1980s, in spite of the best efforts of the Beijing establishment – reveals an exciting phenomenon, as Evan Osnos points out in “The Age of Ambition”. That the song is about “me” rather than “we” struck a particular chord with the generation that was young at this time. As Osnos writes:

There was something different about…the young men and women born in the seventies. You could hear it in their speech, their comfort with saying “I” and “me,” where their parents would have used the plural: “our work unit” and “our family.” (Older Chinese took to calling her cohort the wo yi dai – the “Me Generation.”)

“My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion, another KTV staple, is about the forbidden love between Leonardo Di Caprio’s vagrant and Kate Winslet’s heiress in “Titanic”. The song and the film proved a pirated video sensation in a country where, of all the social upheavals that have occured in recent decades, the ability to choose ones own partner is just about the biggest.

Teresa Teng, image courtesy of Baidu

In the 1970s, as Osnos points out, rural men wanted to be seen as 老实 (honest and reliable) rather than 风流 (wild and adventurous). By the end of the century, the opposite was the case. A good representation of this shift is the songs that owe a huge amount of their hit status to KTV.

For a song to be a KTV hit, the lyrics have to be comprehensible and singable, something that isn’t universal in the world of popular music. The lyrics to “Louie” by The Kingsmen, for example, are so indecipherable that they prompted an FBI investigation in the early 1960s into their allegedly obscene content. A comprehensible lyric is ideological in that it expresses something as opposed to nothing.

So what if love songs dominate?

A look at some lists of the top 10 most popular KTV songs reveals that, to nobody’s surprise, love ballads dominate. However, dismissing all popular love ballads as syrupy trash is as lazy as assuming that all underground music is good. My experience of underground music venues is, it is amazing the amount of pseudo-profound drivel you can get away with singing as long as you’re wearing a hat.

Before the 1980s, love songs were as unacceptable in mainland China as flowery dresses. Since then, this Japanese invention has helped numerous foreign songs come into their own in China and their lyrics have given the public the chance to see that people everywhere fall in and out of love and have similar highs, lows and dilemmas. Literature, as has been argued by historian Lynn Hunt, philosopher Martha Nussbaum, and psychologists Raymond Marr and Keith Oatley, has served to expand empathy and a force towards humanitarian progress.

On my last night in Hunan in 2009 I went to a communal KTV which was just one barroom with one microphone and one screen (which is what the original Japanese karaoke houses were like before the private room format became popular in Taiwan in the 1980s) and as soon as I sat down, a drunk Chinese man came uninvited to my table and put his arm around me. When I said (in Chinese), “Do you mind? I am here to be with the people I came with,” he responded (in English) “No no no no no no…I’m your friend.”

Looking back at this incident, two things strike me. 1. I didn’t have the courage to rip his glasses off and throw them across the floor. 2. His xenophilia, though cloying, was preferable to its opposite. A look at the contents of this double CD of songs that were popular during the 1960s, including 《地道战》 which glorifies making war against an unnamed “invader” and “Keep Mao’s Words in Your Heart”, indicates that in the pre-KTV era, our barroom encounter would have been spikier.

Daisuke Inoue, who never patented his invention and only found out about its international popularity upon seeing it mentioned in Time Magazine in 1999. Image courtesy of Google

Good harmless fun

Daisuke Inoue may not be Nobel Peace Prize material, but he was surely damned with faint praise when, upon being awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in 2004, he was said to have invented “an entirely new way for people to learn to tolerate each other.” Karaoke is at the very worst good, harmless fun, which is how most drinking games could be described if they were any good or fun.

No less a figure than Johnny Cash understood how singing seems to help a troubled soul. Singing karaoke is more social than other pastimes such as playing computer games, healthier than hunching over a computer, and less sinful than other social activities such as drinking and taking drugs.

As for KTV girls and the world of vice that is associated with the activity, pimping services also target hotels and nightclubs. This doesn’t mean that dancing and sleeping are innately shameful. If people who frequent KTVs are supposed to be getting a lot of sex, then life is seriously passing me by.

Haohao

Jaycee Chan and Kai Ko To Lose Millions in Endorsements

Posted: 08/19/2014 7:23 pm

jaycee jackie chan tea endorsementJaycee Chan and Kai Ko are the latest of a number of celebrities, notably from Hong Kong and Taiwan, that have been charged with drug-related offenses, mostly in and around Beijing. As people wait for the fallout from the arrests, there’s one thing we can be certain of: both celebrities will lose a lot in endorsement money.

Many celebrities make the majority of their earnings from lucrative endorsement deals. Estimates vary, but some sources say the figure tops RMB 70 million a year.

As a rising star, Ko is considerably more famous than Chan, but the two still have 25 endorsement deals between them. Ko has endorsement deals with KFC, Nivea men’s skin cream, Stride chewing gum, Chevrolet cars, Cornetto ice cream, and Maybelline BB skin cream. Meanwhile, Chan has endorsement deals with Yuanye tea, Dove chocolate, and Kangta athletic shoes.

kai ko nivea

But since Chinese television has a zero tolerance towards drug use, it is very likely that all of these commercials will be pulled from broadcast.

Mr Li, who works in entertainment management, gave this estimate:

For a hot young guy like Kai Ko, a single endorsement deal should be worth about RMB four million a year. That means if he currently has 19 endorsement deals, he should be making about RMB six million a month. This does not take into consideration his fee made when performing in movies.

On the other hand, Jaycee’s worth should be lower than Kai’s. It can’t really be calculated, but his six endorsement deals should earn him somewhere around RMB two to three million a year.

CCTV estimated the loss of revenue from cancelled endorsement deals to be worth “hundreds of millions” without providing specifics, while Xinhua made an estimate of RMB 50 million a year.

It’s still too early for this pair to consider a comeback, but even that might be difficult once some time has passed. On August 13, a number of prominent Chinese entertainment agencies publicly signed a contract that blacklisted any talent that used drugs.

In 2011, Jaycee Chan’s father, Jackie Chan, announced that he was leaving his vast fortune to charity, and not to his children.

jaycee chan dove commercial

Before it gets lost to time, here’s a Dove commercial featuring Jaycee Chan and Guo Caijie.

Photos: starpedia77y4, nipicadquan

Haohao

Cinemas In China Allowing Audiences to Type Comments Into Phone, Appear on Screen During The Film

Posted: 08/19/2014 2:17 pm

live commenting movie screen

Many like to think of the cinema as a place that lets their mind wander; something that takes them to different worlds and lets their imagination run wild. In order to do that, you need peace and quiet — which is why cinemas provide advertisements reminding guests to turn off their phones and avoid taking during the film.

Some cinemas in China, however, are going in the complete opposite direction. Chinese audiences aren’t only encouraged to complain about the movie they are watching, but share their comments with the rest of the audience—by having them projected on the movie screen.

Theaters in Beijing and Shanghai have begun experimenting with a live commenting system through which audiences can share a comment by sending a text message from their phone, reports Sohu Entertainment. Messages are then projected directly on the screen over the film, or onto an adjacent screen.

live commenting movie screen danmu

The Legend of Qin is an animated film that has tried the new feature in 50 theaters in Beijing and Shanghai since it was released on August 8. Shen Leping, the film’s director, is very enthusiastic about it, saying:

We are exploring how the response from the audience can affect the movie itself… We are, in fact, putting the director and viewer on equal terms and I think many of the opinions of the viewers are very helpful for film makers.

The screenings that feature live commenting predominantly feature young audiences, 80% of whom are 24 years old or younger. This demographic is more familiar with live commenting, which is already used online. Called danmu, or “bullet screen” for the way words scroll from left to right like bullets, live commenting on videos puts user content on equal terms with the video content. Originating from Japan, two Chinese websites that have popularized the danmu are ACFun and Bilibala.

To give you a taste of what this experience is like, here’s a video (below) with live commenting enabled. The video shows a video-taped confession of Taiwanese actor Kai Ko, who was arrested on drug charges along with Jaycee Chan. Screenshots are first provided, and then with a video clip below.

live commenting movie screen danmulive commenting movie screen danmu

Having moved from the internet and onto the silver screen, audiences can use the live commenting system to bring their own snark and sarcasm as they enjoy watching a movie through the interface of their own phone.

Photos: Sohu EntertainmentCCTV English

Haohao

Transformers Embroiled In Another Chinese Lawsuit

Posted: 07/24/2014 2:30 pm
zhou hei ya

A Hong Kong taxi with a Zhou Hei Ya advertisement that was apparently used in the Transformers sequel.

Transformers: Age of Extinction became China’s undisputed box office champion when it raked in US $225.1 million in its first 12 days of release, beating previous title holder Avatar.

However, with the spoils of victory comes controversy as yet another company is going to court over contractual disputes stemming from the latest Transformers franchise.

READ: Chongqing Is Not Hong Kong, We’ll Sue
the Transformers Movie to Prove It!

The Hubei Zhou Hei Ya Food Company is disappointed with their product placement in the film, said to last only two seconds. Hao Lixiao, deputy CEO of the company, revealed that his company invested a great deal of money, but left the specific amount undisclosed to the media.

Zhou Hei Ya, or literally “Zhou’s Black Duck”, is taking intermediary agent Beijing Ruige Propagation Company to court, reports Sina News. He Lianjian, chairman of Ruige, told reporters product placements are dependent upon a client’s investment:

A client will pay an amount based upon how much they will appear in a film. The more you appear, the more you have to pay. The less you appear, the less you have to pay. The signed contracts are written in this way.

READ: Here are Your 2014 Summer Blockbusters, China Edition

Some view the litigation as a shrewd marketing move. Li Zhiqi, chairman of the Beijing Zhiqi Future Market Consultancy Group, says that suing over the Transformers movie is a strategy to gain more attention.

Zhou hei ya

A Zhou Hei Ya store location in China.

PICTURES: Dongguan Bumblebee is a Beauty

Earlier this month, a company representing the Wulong Chongqing scenic area announced it is suing Transformers producers and 1905 Technology for not including  a sign with the written Chinese characters for “Wulong, China” in the film. Additionally, the Beijing Pangu Company took a third-party agent to court before the first screening of the new Transformers film over a contract dispute.

duck neck zhou hei ya

A sample of Zhou Hei Ya’s culinary offerings. Pictured: duck neck.

Photo: coovee, qulecheng, sina, NBC, kotaku

Haohao

Explore Your Chinese Childhood with These Japanese Icons

Posted: 06/2/2014 4:11 pm

childhood memor japanese culture anime cartoon herosInternational Children’s Day took place this past Sunday, June 1, a day to raise awareness for important children’s issues like child labor, human trafficking and child abuse once the very important business of dancing and singing is first completed.

As we slowly wind down this Dragon Boat Holiday, we thought we’d share this Weibo post shared by none other than the People’s Daily Online in celebration of this day.childhood memor japanese culture anime cartoon heros

The People’s Daily Online said:

#Hello again, childhood: Come on and take a look; can you find your childhood in here?

The accompanying photo is a cool art poster consisting of a stellar line-up of several cartoon figures, and a quick glance reveals some top names: Doramon, Pokemon, Dragonball Z, Astroboy, Totoro, Initial D, Sailor Moon… everyone and everything that was cool for a kid in the last thirty years that also happened to be imported from across the sea.

Yes, it’s a pure nostalgia trip for many of the readers of the People’s Daily Online. With so many amazing Japanese anime and cartoons, it’s hard to imagine Chinese not getting sentimental over these childhood favorites.

You may not be Chinese, but can you find your childhood in here? Take a look!childhood memor japanese culture anime cartoon heros

* Note: We’re not entirely sure, but this page in Japanese may be pointing out the same thing. And if someone can help us identify the artist of this collection of childhood Japanese memories, we’d appreciate it.

Photo: People’s Daily Online via Weibo

Haohao

Chinese Meme “No Zuo No Die” Laughs in the Face of Reason

Posted: 05/21/2014 7:44 pm

no zuo no dieThe culmination of decades of English language training in China has brought us to this point: a massive online meme that can be appreciated by Chinese English students, and only by Chinese English students.

No zuo no die” is a meme on the Chinese internet that only gets better as it continues to make less sense. Originally a Chinese phrase that meant “If you don’t look for trouble, you won’t find any”, the phrase was half-translated over to Chinglish where it retained one of its Chinese characters in pinyin.

Then, things could only get funnier in the same way a deceased horse can be slightly bruised in a variety of fashions..

urban dictionary chinese internet slang entries cultural validationA media buzz surfaced when several Chinese phrases were published in the Urban Dictionary. Online media saw the admission of “no zuo no die” along with “you can you up, no can no bb” and “zhuangbility” as “deserving of applause” for having “invaded a US online dictionary”. Even the People’s Daily boldly said, ”English speakers may soon be saying “you can you up, no can no bb” in response to criticism.”

Are you ready for “no zuo no die”? Because it’s ready for you.

The latest transformation of this meme is into a set of English lyrics that can be sung with a bunch of songs and TV show themes that include “Doramon”, “Sparkling Red Star”, “The Little Girl Who Picked Mushrooms”, “Only Mother Knows Best”, “The Most Dazzling Ethnic Customs”, “I Love Beijing Tiananmen”, and the Mozart hit “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.

The English lyrics go like this:

No zuo no die, why you try
No try, no high, give me five
Why try, why high, can be shine
You shine, you cry, you still go die
No zuo no die, don’t be shy
You shy, you die, you can try
Keep try, keep shine, love that guy
But he only say good night

Whaaa? Still don’t know what to make of these English words of which you are a fluent speaker? Here’s a video using the above lyrics to sing a variety of TV show themes:

Take a bow, English teachers of China: your hard work forging the minds of tomorrow has all come to this point.

Photo: Meilishuo

Haohao

China Insider: Ten Ways to Smack Talk To Mainland Chinese Over Xbox Live

Posted: 05/11/2014 5:30 pm

battlefield 4 shanghaiReform has brought us some nifty things over the years, and none more next-gen as the recent lift of the ban on video game consoles in China. This September, the Xbox One will sold in the Shanghai free trade zone.

Soon, the joys of online console multi-player will be experienced by a new video gaming audience. While market analysts speculate upon proper strategies to win over this new market, there is but one practical problem left for the common gamer to deal with: how do I smack talk to a mainland Chinese player over Xbox Live?

Now, certain factor may not facilitate online smack talk for Chinese Xbox Live. It may well be that China will become its own online-locked region and serve as an extension of the Great Firewall to keep the potty mouths of rambunctious 12 year-old Call of Duty players from spoiling the unsullied ears of Chinese players. Furthermore, it may well be that a Chinese player would rather rocket jump at the chance to practice his English with a native English speaker like you than engage in online griefing.

Be that as it may, online fragging employs its own universal language made up of an alphabet of gibs. That said, here are some easy Chinese phrases with which to punctuate your online kills.

Remember: use responsibly in the virtual world of digitized blood, and not in a practical situation in the real world—there are no resets there.

1) 你死定了 (Nǐ sǐ dìng le): “You’re gonna die!” The basics. Not great banter, but good for hyping up the contest as you wait it out in the lobby.

2) 去死吧 (Qù sǐ ba):”Go to hell!” A very common insult, very applicable in the context of mutual fragging.

3) 你被打中了 (Nǐ bèi dǎ zhòng le): “I shot/hit you!” Again, nothing too difficult, but then it’s these simple phrases that you are more likely to use while double jumping or parkouring or whatever is occupying most of your brain.

4)  无懈可击 (Wúxièkějī): “Unassailable/impeccable.” Be sure to say this after you frag someone else, and not when someone tags you.

5) 你不是我的对手 (Nǐ bùshì wǒ de duìshǒu): This literally means “You are not my opponent”, but saying this after you have beaten someone gives the implication that “You are not worthy of being my opponent.”

6) 起死回生 (Qǐ sǐ huí shēng): This means “to rise from the dead” or to make “an unexpected recovery”. Scream this out whenever you respawn to get on your opponents nerves.

7) 我要给我师父报仇 (Wǒ yào gěi wǒ shīfu bàochóu): “I will avenge my master!” Nothing remotely to do with the first-person shooter genre, but still a cool thing to shout out.

8) 我要斩草除根 (Wǒ yào zhǎncǎochúgēn): This literally means” I want to pull up grass by the roots” when you’re talking about plants, but when spoken with a blood-curdling tone this means to “I will completely destroy my enemies“.

9) 你死在我手下,一点儿也不冤枉 (Nǐ sǐ zài wǒ shǒuxià, yīdiǎn er yě bù yuānwang): “It is no injustice at all for you to die at my hands.” A verbal barb traded within the confines of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this one is good when yelled or as a menacing whisper.

10) 我一路过关斩将,终于杀入决赛 (Wǒ yīlù guòguānzhǎnjiàng, zhōngyú shā rù juésài): “After all my trials and tribulations, I will kill my way to the top.” A little wordy perhaps, but still a gem that will strike a chord among Chinese players for evoking an idiom about Guan Yu from the Three Kingdoms era.

Photo: Evil Avatar

Haohao

Korean drama craze is hurting Chinese culture, says Guangdong official

Posted: 03/3/2014 6:57 am

Ever wonder why Chinese TV rom-coms fall short? Well according to Xu Qinsong, president of Guangdong Painting Academy and a delegate to the CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference), the Chinese obsession with Korean dramas is to blame.

“The Korean drama craze no longer just concerns Korean TV. It is resulting in a lack of confidence in our own culture,” said Xu speaking with Dayoo Net on March 2. According to Xu, in the interests of promoting traditional Chinese culture, Chinese television should tell more Guangdong stories, as well as greater China’s stories. Most Chinese TV dramas are poorly written and lack creativity, he added.

China’s poor TV drama quality is no secret. Most of the TV dramas produced by the country are ignored by viewers, who are increasingly opting for American, British and Korean television. The popular US drama, “House of Cards”, has several high-profile Chinese viewers, such as Wang Qishan (王岐山), China’s Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

The country’s disappointing TV dramas even promoted scathing comments from an op-ed in the China Daily. It wrote:

Chinese TV screens are flooded by knock-off and/or poorly made soap operas. Most of the Chinese TV dramas either distort the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, which is a distortion of history, or blindly copy foreign programs. The lack of good stories has of late resulted in loads of TV series on time travel or fights in the harems of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) emperors. These, in short, are the bane of Chinese TV productions.

The Guangdong official’s comments came after a hit Korean drama called “My Love from the Star” wrapped up its last episode in late February. The show, which tells the story of a top Korean actress who falls in love with an alien boyfriend, was watched more than one billion times online in China, according to china.com.cn.

The Korean drama has even given rise to food joints that are selling fried chicken and beer in Beijing. It had scenes of the leading female character having beer and chicken to celebrate the first snow. One woman in Chongqing broke up with her boyfriend after he refused to buy her chicken and beer at midnight. Another woman from Chongqing almost had a miscarriage when binging on fried chicken and beer while watching the drama.

The question is: will Chinese TV respond to the criticism? Is better television right around the corner? Stay tuned…

Photo from The Wall Street Journal 

Haohao

In Praise Of… Mandopop (It’s not so bad, really!)

Posted: 02/19/2014 11:00 am

The Nanfang is introducing a new series in which it defends a frequently criticised aspect of life in China. This week, we tackle Mandarin pop music, also known as “Mandopop”.

When my former employer used to take us on staff outings to karaoke joints, seeing which Westerner could last the longest was like a bucking bronco competition. Foreign staff would depart one by one describing “Mandopop” music as “treacly,” “syrupy,” “sentimental,” and the most frequently used adjective of all: “lame.”

American-born Lee-hom Wang, who has managed to become a Mandopop superstar, had a similar first impression of the music when he moved to Taiwan as a teenager. In his address to the Oxford Union last year he argued that pop music could be an important soft power tool to help build understanding between China and the Anglophone world. But first, bad impressions such as the one held by my former colleagues must be understood and overcome.

Is Chinese music lame?

The now-defunct blog Chinabounder was primarily known for its author’s provocative boasts about his conquests of Chinese girls. But it also contained a lot of biting criticisms of Chinese society itself. It described Mandopop as being “characterised by softness” and having “no hard edges on which listeners might cut themselves some independent thinking.”

The blogger goes on to berate Chinese music for never covering difficult subject matter. But this issue is neither uniquely modern nor uniquely Chinese. Plato mistrusted music and wanted only two keys to exist, one that stirred patriotic feelings and one that relaxed listeners, according to Anthony Storr’s “Music and the Mind”.

The handful of foreigners who have become well known for singing in Chinese have sung songs that have fit broadly into one of those two categories. Americans Martin Papp and Hong Laowai became well known on television and the internet respectively for singing songs praising China and its government. British-Liberian Hao Ge and American Clay Garner have gained a reputation for singing inoffensive love ballads.

No Chinese city yet has an alternative music scene to rival those of, say, Seattle and Manchester in their day. However, there is room for more esoteric artists to carve out a niche, find a respectable level of recognition and even gain a mass audience.

Zuoxiao Zuzhou was described in an NPR feature as “The Leonard Cohen of China” and “the voice of a generation.” The lyrics go straight at issues such as land grabs and official corruption and the melodies and vocals are “alternative” by any standard.

Although Zuoxiao Zuzhou is an eccentric who was once banned from performing live, he has almost 2 million followers on Sina Weibo. These include such influential figures as social commentator Li Chengpeng and superstar author Han Han.

Cut from a slightly different cloth is the comical singer Chuanzi, whose songs “Happiness Lane” and “I Want to Get Married” cover issues such as the impossibility of affording a house and, by extension, attracting a wife.

Chuanzi is part of a tradition that goes back to the writings of Western-educated Lin Yutang who in the 1920s coined the Chinese word “幽默” based on the English word “humour.” The principle behind it is the belief that it is possible to care about serious issues while remaining light-hearted.

These guys may struggle to get their stuff played on mainstream radio and television. But it’s not as if Radiohead ever played the live final on X Factor, or Leonard Cohen will ever be invited to do the halftime show at the Superbowl.

The satirical singer Chuanzi is well worth checking out, image courtesy of Baidu

As for whether mainstream music covers difficult subject matter: to push the envelope effectively, one first needs to know where it is located. Teresa Teng, the most iconic Chinese-language singer of her generation, dressed elegantly and sang about falling in love and having a good time. This may not seem radical, but compared to what had been acceptable in China during the red years it was “decadent,” according to authorities.

Her persona, which was considered wholesome in Hong Kong and Taiwan, was considered sexy and glamorous in Mainland China, so much so that her work was banned. She never lived to give a live performance in the People’s Republic.

The many mainland singers she influenced can fairly be described as pushing the envelope considering the cultural context. Pushing the envelope just enough to keep one’s medium interesting but not so much that it attracts the attention of censors is common in China, from journalism to comedy. A mainstream Western audience is unlikely to appreciate the extent to which Mandopop tries to push the envelope, but the best of it does.

Anatomy of a Chinese pop song

More important than “softness” or aversion to difficult subject matter in characterising Mandopop are two things. The first is a particular melodic structure and the second is a particular lyrical style.

The four-step melodic structure of 起,承, 转, 合 (which roughly translates as open, develop, spin, unite) goes back to ancient Chinese literature. English songs that have proven popular in Chinese KTVs (think “Hotel California,” “Big Big World” and “Yesterday Once More”) tend to follow this structure.

Songs that have met with blank stares or embarrassed silences when I have played them in China include “I Would Walk 500 Miles” by The Proclaimers, “Fake Plastic Trees” by Radiohead, and the entire works of Jimi Hendrix. All are said to “have no tune,” i.e. they don’t follow the recognised four-step melody.

When looking for a lyrical style that runs through much contemporary Chinese pop music, an important concept is that of 意境(yijing) which roughly translates as “scenery.” Lyrics that can tell a story while painting a picture have proven popular. English songs that have abundant yijing include “Flesh and Blood” by Johnny Cash and “Mersey Paradise” by The Stone Roses. Mindless yet catchy lyrics in the vein of “I got soul but I’m not a soldier” tend not to go down too well in China.

A prime example of a popular contemporary Chinese song that uses yijing is “Listening to the Sea” by Zhang Huimei. The image is that of somebody urging a distant lover to write them a letter telling them what colour the sea is and how that will reflect their mood. The imagery it spins owes a lot to the poem “Quiet Night Thought” by Li Bai (701-762). Treacly and sentimental the song may be, but it is part of a tradition that warrants appreciation.

Street Spirit vs a Mandopop song

Though I agree with Frank Zappa that writing about music is a bit like dancing about architecture, I will now compare a song by a respected British alternative band to a Mandopop song by a Beijing band. “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” by Radiohead and “Hudie Hua by Shuimu Nianhua” are similar both musically and thematically.

Both songs involve sweeping guitar arpeggios in a minor key and both songs are about loss. I think “Hudie Hua” is better and here’s why.

Shuimu Nianhua, image courtesy of Baidu

Both paint a picture of loss and decline but the Chinese song does so in a way that is so much more organic and so much less elliptical. The line in “Street Spirit” that goes “This machine will not communicate these thoughts and the strain I am under” is a great line. But is not connected to any of the lyrics around it, there are no other lines that refer to or symbolise machines. What machine? It is almost vague and noncommittal enough to be a Coldplay lyric.

“Hudie Hua” begins by painting a vivid image of an idyllic childhood, symbolised by the eponymous flower which is a type of iris, literally meaning “butterfly flower”. Unlike “Street Spirit” it has a narrative, suggesting the decline of a relationship between two people as they age.

The sense of loss builds up to a climax in which is sung “Don’t cry, don’t cry and say to me all saplings wither in the end. Don’t sigh, don’t sigh and say to me, all saplings wither in the end.” Because of this build up and the vivid context, it has much greater impact than Radiohead’s line “All these things will deposition, all these things will one day swallow.”

Of course, this is just one example. There are many others and you admittedly have to wade through the chaff to get to them. But couldn’t that be said of the music scene anywhere?

Haohao

In case you missed it: Chinese copycats target the Colbert Report

Posted: 01/28/2014 2:53 pm

Stephen Colbert has been “ripped off by the Chinese!”

Chinese bootleggers have done it again. American satirist Stephen Colbert was recently surprised to find that the Chinese news comedy show the Banquet (夜宴) has completely plagiarized his opening. From the epic “Iron Man jump” graphics to the theme song, “Baby Mumbles” by Cheap Trick. It’s a total knockoff.

Keeping in with his television character, Colbert’s vain persona was very happy to reach the potential Chinese audience of 400 million. “Folks, this is nothing more than wholesale theft… and I love it.” Colbert proceeded to hilariously pander to Chinese audience, sarcastically of course, by making them more comfortable with some familiar smog.

But Colbert (or his writers) made a bit of a laowai mistake, saying mantou are eggs.

He concluded by demanding that the Banquet invite him to China. Let’s wait and see if they take up his invitation.

The Atlantic has reported that some Chinese netizens were not amused. “This is down-right plagiarism: Absolutely shameless. I hate this kind of thing,” said a young woman on Weibo. “With the great popularity of The Colbert Report, don’t you know how easily Colbert can make a laughingstock out of China, and ensure the whole world knows about it?” remarked ‘Coolgirl1982’.

The Banquet apparently has taken those critiques into consideration and now has a new intro. Meanwhile, American comedy does seem to be growing in popularity in China. Saturday Night Live now being legitimately streamed on Sohu with official Chinese subtitles.

In 2012 fellow late-night host Conan O’Brian was also copied by Internet show Dapeng. He took it rather well after an apology was given and actually offered a free opening graphic for the perpetrator.

As the English chengyu goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Also on The Nanfang:

 

Photo credit: The Atlantic

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