Anshan, China, August 4, 2010,
It's playing in the background at the Club Coco in Anshan China, Shakira's Anthem for the 2010 World Cup - Waka Waka (It's time for Africa). The young woman I am sitting with, asks me, "Is this a hit in America ,too?" I say "Yes. I think it's a hit everywhere." Not only that, but it's pretty inspiring. It's not surprising to hear that Shakira has been on the Ellen Degeneres show ... because, well ... this is dance music. I want to jump up in the air with a triple arm pump like Hannah Kearney right after winning gold in Vancouver. This is glorious. A victory really.
I look on the streets of China and I see hot fashions. Sexy, contemporary fashion. Malls, shops. American styles. An even more on the street, Chinese style. Stuff I never have seen in America. I hear in the clubs and KTV (karaoke television) clubs, great Chinese pop. Hot, sexy video pop. Suddenly I want Chinese KTV on my cable at home. I have 400 effin' hundred channels ... how come there's no KTV?
I watched -- in my hotel in China, every day when I was supposed to take a nap, a show in English called "Living with Chinese." A great course in learning Mandarin. Do you think I can find that on my local cable? Not so much. Can I find it on YouTube? Not so much. I can't find it. The great firewall works both ways.
People in China are aspiring to own cars, they are owning cars. Mao's country of bicycles has turned a country of smog and industry. Powerful industry. Signs of affluence abound and personal wealth is obvious. China is a rising economic power. Symptoms of capitalism are everywhere. China seems an unstoppable giant.
I guess what I don't see so much is the effect of contemporary Chinese culture present in America's mainstream. I wonder just how long it will be before we hear some Chinese pop gone viral in the West.
