总重红绿灯 | Stoplight in the Sky

So things here at CET wrapped up last Saturday, and everybody graduated. I am busy trying to relax now, so I am staying in Hangzhou, catching up on paperwork and email and trying not to get into some vacation death march. Graduation was a bit weird, but a lot of fun. Weird because I started speaking to people in English, and listening to people in English, and you discover that language matters when it comes to assessing personality. People’s voices change when they speak Chinese, as does their inflection, but since I read a lot into people’s inflection, it’s a bit of a head snap to hear them speak English and discover a whole new facet to their personality. Most of the time that’s been a good thing, but one particular girl would have been better off sticking with Chinese.
Of course it’s even more drastic for the beginner learners, since they’ve been using a sort of kindergarten pidgin of Chinese interlaced with spelled English words (we’re allowed to spell words that we don’t know the Chinese for), which really cramps expression. I know this because I was in the beginning class last year, and so I really, really appreciate the social advantage that comes along with improved language skills in an immersion context.

Anyway, final exams ended Friday, and people began to rage, rage against the kicking of the keg, as it were; everybody went to Black and White bar, which ain’t half bad, and went bananas on the dance floor. I spent an insane amount of money this weekend and I’m not sure how but I’m confident buying rounds of drinks had a lot to do with it. Meng Xue got drunk on Long Island Iced Teas and tried to sober up on the dance floor by touching her finger to her nose with her eyes closed.

The MC, Jefferson, from Nigeria, tried to hold a sort of beauty contest, which was embarrassing since he required the men to pick out who was the best looking of the dancing women. These were our classmates, and it was awkward. But Jefferson was alright otherwise. He’s in a rap group that tours around China, he’s got a piece of the Black and White Bar (so he says), and better Hangzhou than Lagos. Robbers don’t go around breaking into houses blasting AK-47s in Hangzhou.

I like expat bars, generally, and Black and White is one of the better ones. But I don’t think I will ever get into Chinese discos. Too loud, too bad, and just . . . I dunno. Last weekend we went to SOS (which is full of “false people” as one of the Chinese roommates put it, and wasted Chinese girls who can barely walk); Babyface, which is just too loud, so loud my innards were vibrating, I felt like I was digesting the music, not listening to it; and G Plus, which was distinguished only by not being annoying. If you are into techno/trance whatever, these clubs occasionally attract famous DJs from overseas. If you don’t care, like me, they don’t offer much. Anyway, time to get back to acting my age. These clubs are expensive and dumb.

I’ve decided I’m not going to bother trying to get into modern Chinese musical culture, it just plain sucks. Which is too bad, because listening to lyrics is a great way to study a language. Chinese musical culture has a long tradition, obviously, and it’s nice to stroll around Xihu in Hangzhou and listen to people practicing singing, dancing, and playing various instruments, all without a hat out for money. But modern Chinese music is rotten, as far as I’m concerned, because it has no interest in anything apart from lyrics. Chinese people, as far as I can tell, consider the lyrics of the song to be the song itself. Instrumentation, beat, etc. are just a sort of plate on which the lyrics are served. One popular hit has been resung and reset and remixed multiple times with different singers; there’s even an English version. It’s like the entire industry made of cover bands backing up “stars” produced by the same sort of industry process that produces American Idol. Cheap, disposable talent backed up by faceless bands. It’s not that Western music doesn’t have this same problem in certain areas. It’s just that you can choose to listen to other music. But as far as I can tell, in mainland China, musical taste is a lot more homogeneous.

I talked with the Chinese roommates about this. It’s not entirely true that Chinese people have no interest in musical instruments or virtuosity, but there are no Chinese rock stars who are famous for their instrumental skill. They are all singers, as far as I can tell, and they are all beautiful and young and indistinguishable. If you want instrument virtuousity, you head towards the people who are studying Chinese traditional instruments (there was a 20 year old in Xihu who was absolutely wonderful on the arhu), or Western classical music. Which I intend to do.