The ‘Chinese wind’ whirling throu
The annual China Central Television’s Spring Festival Gala of song, dance and comedy sketches draws tens of millions of viewers every Lunar New Year Eve. It’s the traditional entertainment of the night and the talking point of days following.
But this Year of the Ox, many TV viewers found something more entertaining. The aftermath buzz of New Year’s Eve has been a dance show entitled “Tang Gong Ye Yan,” or “Night Banquet in a Tang Palace.” It was aired on Henan Television.
The show had the same sort of vibe as the Hollywood movie “Night at the Museum.” Dancers looked like sculptures from the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), performing among ancient paintings and relics. Augmented reality technology turned the stage into vivid displays of a royal court.
The dance show attracted tens of millions of clicks online within 24 hours of airing and remains a hot topic half a month later.
“The dancers looked exactly the same, from costumes to make-up, as Tang beauties we usually see in paintings,” said Yang Yijun, a Shanghai white-collar worker who admits to having watched the show more than 10 times. “It was quite different from what we see in costume dramas or movies. Now I’m planning a holiday to Henan to visit the Henan Museum because I heard that the relics that appeared on the stage are displayed there.”
The dance show might be regarded as the height of guofeng, or “Chinese wind” — a buzzword of Chinese pop culture.
Guofeng has stormed through movies, art, fashion and video games since two animation movies, “Monkey King: Hero is Back” and “Ne Zha,” broke box-office records in China several years go.
Both films were adapted from ancient Chinese mythology.
An earlier survey of the music tastes of people 25 years or younger showed that traditional Chinese-style music has become one of the most popular genres, surpassing folk, hip-hop, rhythm and blues, and electronic music. It ranked second only to pop.
The survey by Tencent Music Entertainment, a leading music-streaming service in China, covered more than 800 million users on four major platforms in China: QQ Music, Kugou, Kuwo and Quanmin Karaoke.
Guofeng music doesn’t necessarily refer to ancient masterpieces such as “Spring
Night on a Moonlight River” or “High Mountains and Flowing Waters,” but rather it’s modern-style songs rooted in traditional Chinese musical elements.
Ancient stringed instruments like the erhu and pipa are often used in the musical accompaniment, and lyrics are written in the form of ancient Chinese poetry. Some artists choose to sing guofeng songs in the style of Chinese opera.
Most of its singers and song writers are individual musicians who share their works on music or video platforms, hoping to cultivate their own fans.
Xiaoshi Guniang, a Sichuan-born singer, is one of them.
Engaged in guofeng music for more than a decade — long before the genre hit the charts or was even defined — she recorded a song entitled “Aishang,” or “Love Dies Young.” She didn’t expect it to gain much popularity, but it was selected as the theme song for a TV costume period drama 12 years after it was recorded.
Now the singer has millions of followers on various social media platforms.
Her latest project focuses on Changsha, capital city of central China’s Hunan Province.
“We have a team of 20 people, and they tell me a lot of stories about the city,” she said. “The more I learn about the city, the more I can grasp the feeling of the songs.”
Guofeng isn’t confined to music.
One of the most phenomenally popular mobile games released last year was “Jiangnan Baijingtu,” which literally means “100 views in Jiangnan.”
Developed by Shanghai-based company Coconut Island, the simulation game allows players to build Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) cities in a region south of the Yangtze River.
There is not much creativity about the gameplay itself. On the contrary, simulation game fans could name numerous titles of a similar style. But this game attracted more than 5 million downloads within just a month after it appeared online, and it soon became one of the most talked-about games on social media.
The art style of the game makes it unique. The characters and buildings in the game are in the style of traditional elaborate paintings. When the player works to construct a city, it feels like painting on a blank sheet of white paper.
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If you truly love guofeng, then you know that it is based on a culture extending back for thousands of years. The first necessity is to sit down and study the past.
LI Ling stood at the center of a runway stage and waved at the audience along with other gray-haired models, mostly aged above 60, with radiant smiles on their faces.
Applause burst out as if it were a show of the Paris Fashion Week. “Fashion is not just for young people,” said Li, 80.
As the leader and instructor of the part-time modeling team in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province, Li has led hundreds of senior citizens to the runway during the past 13 years.
China’s elderly population is increasing rapidly. As the nation’s economy continues to grow, the elderly are expecting a better quality of cultural life, and thus various enriching activities are emerging.
Among such fancy activities, modeling has become a trend popular with the elderly. Some gray-haired models are even challenging the stereotypes in the fashion industry, a circle once unfriendly to old people.
“But the change did not happen all of a sudden,” Li said. In the 1980s, the country’s fashion industry was still developing at a slow pace, and most Chinese deemed models with high-end designer clothes as people from a different world.
Li began her modeling career in her early 50s. Before that, she worked as a telephone operator in a local factory.
Her first foray into fashion was when she went to Shenzhen on a business trip in 1989. She was invited to watch a catwalk show, costing her nearly two months’ salary. Much like other audiences, Li found it hard to understand and focus on the show. “The wooden platform was simple and crude. And the show was confusing, as we did not know what to watch.”
She was, however, amazed by the beauty of the models and their walks despite all confusion.
Since then, she yearned to be on the runway and finally got a chance by signing up for free modeling classes offered by the Gansu provincial song and dance ensemble in 1991.
She started from the basics, like walking, standing, and making poses. Later, she was selected among the first batch of fashion models in Gansu and won regional modeling competitions in Xi’an and Beijing.
As time went by, she realized age brought a gradual decline in her energy level. So she retired from the front stage and started devoting more time to imparting modeling classes at a university for seniors.
Every Monday morning, 64 students, most of whom are older than 50, arrive for the class, all wearing black leggings and high-heeled shoes.
For Zhang Chunlan, 70, the class is her happiest time of the week. “My family supports me as well. Modeling with my peers teaches me to be confident and take good care of myself,” Zhang said.
More and more elderly people in China are pursuing refined lifestyles. Grandpas in suits and grandmas with make-ups have become popular fashion icons on social media, reflecting the diverse needs of the silver-haired group.
“Time will change our appearance, but it will not change our positive thinking and attitude toward life,” Li said.