Expatriates’ rich contribution to China recognized
In the nine years since they met, Bob Bellows, an 84-year-old jazz singer and Deng Peitong, a 14-year-old visually impaired pianist have been performing together, bringing their love of jazz to Chinese audiences.
Bellows moved with his wife from the United States to Zhuhai, a coastal retreat in Guangdong province. He regards the town as his second home and took on a single student — Deng, who was born without eyesight but learned to play the piano at age 3.
The unusual friendship has jazzed up both of their lives. When Bellows teaches Deng colorful, creative music, he also learns about the richness of life.
“Meeting Niko (Deng’s English name) has taught me a lot. I got to understand what being blind feels like,” Bellows says.
“Niko keeps improving. She will be a strong talent with a great future. I just hope when I’m not around she will be taken good care of by other people.”
Bellows celebrated this new chapter in their lives by singing What A Wonderful World, accompanied by Deng on piano, after receiving the 2013 China Right Here Award, a ceremony which was held in Beijing on Friday.
The annual award was launched in 2009 to extend the influence of a bilingual television documentary of the same name. The program focuses on expatriates’ experiences across China, and has documented about 150 people since its debut on Tianjin Satellite Television in 2006.
The first episode was filmed by David Lai, a Canadian-Chinese documentary maker and the program’s chief director, and told the story of Sabriye Tenberken, a then 36-year-old German social worker in Tibet.
Having lost her eyesight at age 12, Tenberken made her way to university. There she learned the Tibetan language, and developed the Braille alphabet for written Tibetan. She has brightened the lives of many visually-impaired children by founding a special school for them in Lhasa in 1999, and teaching them Tibetan Braille.
“One story led to another, and we came up with about 20 expats’ stories in the first year,” Lai says.
“At the beginning we had people presenting before the camera their fascinating life and persona. In recent years, however, we’ve been trying to dig further by emphasizing people’s positive impact on society. We are looking for people who apply innovative approaches to solving development issues, such as sustainability, the growing gap between urban and rural areas and waning cultural heritages.”
This year, the award went to 10 people including Brian Linden from the US who restored an antique house in Dali, Yunnan province. The Linden family invested almost all their savings into the restoration of the Old Yang Mansion, a State-listed historical site, 10 years ago. They’ve revived its past glory by turning it into an acclaimed luxury hotel and international culture venue, Linden Center.
Linden first came to China in 1984 as a student and worked as a photographer for the Columbia Broadcasting System.
“I was a young fella, aimless and with no dream 30 years ago. China has been a mentor who has been supporting and guiding me,” he said in fluent Chinese at the awards ceremony.
“The Linden Center is to repay my teacher, China. We wish to do our best to protect the eroding Chinese traditions.
“The material standards of living have improved a lot. It’s time that every one of us contribute our efforts to the preservation of culture.”
Lai the chief director says the program is not only entertaining with breathtaking views of China, but also tells inspiring stories of people’s lives in China.
“The Chinese title of the program is ‘ bo ke’, literally meaning a vagrant guest. We are all passing travelers on the planet, and there has got to be something we can leave to the land,” he says.
The awards ceremony will be aired on Tianjin Satellite TV and Phoenix TV on Nov 16.