Blinkin Park and Other Apparent Contradictions

The first round of Blinkin Park was the past couple of nights. Blinkin Park is a singing contest analogous to American Idol. Charlie and Jacque entered as a duet and sang "My Love" by Justin Timberlake. Needless to say, it was the only English song of the night. As I sat there watching the performances, I could help to notice some ironies that seem like contradictions to how many of the other Chinese have been acting. For the most part the locals are not out going at all. My roommate, Martin, and I are the only Westerners in out flat and there 5 rooms. The locals that live in my flat hid from us and spend as little time as possible in the common areas. Once my door was open and one of our neighbors came out and as soon as he noticed my door open he raced back to his room and slammed his door. I have only talked to one of the flat mates briefly. It is so bad neither Martin or I could tell you with confidence how many people we live with. Everyone else is having similar experiences. Westerners might be somewhat intimidating to the locals, but the thing is they don't even socialize often with each other. Sure you see some groups of Chinese friends around campus, but never outside of school. No one goes "out" and no one stays up late with friends. The campus bus system stops running a little past 11pm and Hong Kong's train/subway system stops running at 1am. Aside from not socializing, similar patterns emerge in class. The locals are terrified of speaking. In a Western classroom students are highly engaged by asking questions and giving their opinions. But here that is never done. In one of Jacque's classes taught by a Western professor, the professor asked the class to introduce themselves. All the locals promptly got up and left the classroom.

There is also an issue with conformity. You read about how China is a "collectivist" society (versus an "individualistic" society like America) but you never really understand it until you spend some time in the society. Every day, at lunch time in the canteens, groups of students will come in and perform. It is sort of like a dance (there is stomping and clapping for example) but not really singing (more of a chant). The thing is though, every single person is doing the same thing. Some times the girls and guys will do different things (the groups are mixed) but otherwise it is very uniform. They always where the same thing but its different each day. It reminds me something the military would do (they make no eye contact and are very serious the whole time). I never understand what they say since most of the chant is in Cantonese, but the name of the group frequently comes up. They yell it over and over upon marching into the canteen, marching out, and often during. I have even seen them around campus practicing walking in unison. For the most part, the Chinese place very little value in "standing out."

So why would they make such a big deal out of a signing contest which emphasizes outgoing individuals? They had giant posters and banners made to advertise the contest, built a stage, and the first round was over several nights. The short answer is I'm not quite sure. The locals who sang certainly had less flare then Charlie and Jacque. Their performance was about what you expect in the states. They dressed up and had a dance planned out. The locals didn't move much and sang much slower songs. One guy even had his hands in his pocket. Granted, back home there are lots of people who would feel too nervous to go on stage and try to sing, but none of the locals went all out and tried to just have fun with it…or at least that is how it looked to me. Charlie and Jacque most definitely stood out.