Chinese state media outlet Xinhua News Agency has released a new English-language rap video on December 7th about ‘foreigners’ life in China’ through its official New China TV YouTube Channel.
On the American American social news platform Reddit, people wonder if this is ‘the most embarrassing state media music video yet.’
The song is dominated by text and lacks instrumental energy. Although the people in the video dance vigorously to the chorus, it never really takes off – which makes the whole video slightly awkward, but nevertheless, fun to watch:
The video, which was produced by Ychina (@歪果仁研究协会), a Beijing-based blogging channel focused on foreigners in China, was posted on Weibo on December 5. It has since been shared 6500 times and has received nearly 20,000 likes.
The song is written and sung by a singer named Dylan Jaye (@钟逸伦Dylan, 51,000+ fans on Weibo), and describes the ‘everyday life’ of a foreigner in China, from ordering Chinese dumplings (jiaozi) to ordering stuff from Taobao and being ‘super screwed without a phone.’ In the video, Dylan is joined by his other ‘laowai’ friends, such as Amy (@李慧琳Amy), an Australian young woman with over 16,000 fans on Weibo.
On Weibo, Dylan Jaye describes it as his “genuine experience of living in China for so long.”
The song, that is subtitled in both English and Chinese, starts with the following text:
Rolling out of bed, Middle Kingdom
Knocking feeling like a drum
Breakfast at the door, jiaozi
Last night ordered them
Waimai dude speaking fangyan
I’m feeling dumb
But these days
I’ll never get bored of them
Because we’re living here in China
I’m a rhymer
Telling you the story of this setting
Through the eyes of another waiguoren
The ones that came out here they call helmsman
And now I’m flipping through Taobao
and somehow with the know-how and Zhi Fu Bao
You can buy anything you want on this website
And the things you didn’t know you wanted til sight
Dylan then continues, singing:
Call me crazy, call me crazy
But I came here for something new
Don’t say maybe, we don’t say maybe
We say this, well I can do.
And the chorus goes:
You ask why China
Yeah we reply why not China
Take on its confusing hutongs and streets
And make it on your own
You ask why China
Yeah we reply why not China
With waimai, kuaidi, Wechat
I’d be super-screwed without my phone
The singer also adds some world politics to the song when he sings:
I’ve been thinking after Donald Trump and Brexit and the chaos and the mayhem
I’ll sit here and sip oolong and I dancing with old people dancing in the park and I
Barely understand them asking who we are, reply
Ni shuo shenme? [What are you saying?]
Wo ting bu dong [I don’t understand].
As the sentence ‘ting bu dong’ [I don’t understand] is generally one of the first sentences foreigners in China know – and often use -, it has become such a cliche that in some online circles, there are even stories and cartoons about a typical foreigner in China named Tim Budong.
Over the past few years, various rap videos released by Chinese state media have made headlines in English-language media. Last year, a rap song praising Karl Marx became a hot news item. Recently, state media also explained China’s modernization through a rap song. Eearlier this year another remarkable music video was launched to celebrate the Belt and Road initiative (see below).
On Reddit, one commenter says the song by Dylan released by state media is “Pretty cringey, but there have been way cringier music videos released by the party.” Another person responds that they “personally find foreign shills to be so much more embarrassing.”
On Weibo, however, many netizens applaud the video, calling it funny and well-written: “It’s just so good,” some say, with others writing: “I just can’t stop listening to it. It’s contagious.”
– By Manya Koetse
Follow @WhatsOnWeibo
Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us.
©2017 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.
The post ‘Wo Ting Bu Dong’: Rap Video Portrays Foreigners’ Life in China appeared first on What's on Weibo.