chinese showbiz rarely produces icons. sure, there are the dozen or so movie actors who can carry a film, and the odd rocker who fills a stadium. but seldom does a face on china"s small screen really stand out. even singing, the national pastime and tv staple, seems reserved for an interchangeable lineup of warbling coquettes, husky crooners and jolly fellows in brass stars and epaulets belting out odes to red flags.
which helps explain how a 21-year-old sichuanese music student named li yuchun has become one of the most popular figures in china. in august, li won a televised american idol-like singing contest produced by hunan province"s entertainment channel and bearing its own inimitable name: "mongolian cow sour yogurt super girl"s voice." (its sponsor makes yogurt.) the show drew the largest audiences in the history of chinese television. as the competition narrowed, the media covered it like a war or the o.j. simpson trial. by the time the finale aired, some 400 million people were tuning in.the li yuchun phenomenon, however, goes far beyond her voice, which even the most ardent fans admit is pretty weak: her vocal range drifts between cher territory and that place your little brother"s voice went the summer before seventh grade. as a dancer, she"s not much better. hei nan, one of the event"s judges, told the guangzhou daily that li was "the worst of the top six in terms of singing skills," but noted that she garnered the most audience votes.what li did possess was attitude, originality and a proud androgyny that defied chinese norms. during the tryouts—in which 150,000 contestants were winnowed to 15—li wore loose jeans and a black button-down shirt, with no make-up and the haircut (and body) of david bowie during his space oddity phase. she auditioned with in my heart there"s only you, never her, an oldie made famous by taiwan"s liu wenzheng—a man. in the main competition she sang other songs written for male performers and called herself "a tomboy." for an audience reared on the bubble-gum, lip-gloss standards of chinese girl pop, li"s disregard for the rule book produced an unfamiliar knee-weakening. her fans wept openly and frantically shrieked when li took the stage. the show ruffled feathers among beijing"s commissars. by the final episode, li and her two remaining rivals had switched their repertoire to patriotic folk songs.
li"s victory was unusual in other ways: like american idol, but unlike china itself, "super girl"s voice" is run democratically. eight million sms votes flooded in on the night of the finale. for a few weeks after, the mainland press debated the relevance of this format. "only something that smashes social norms could elicit such a response," yu guoming, a media expert at people"s university, told the beijing news. "after all, in china the opportunities to use votes to choose are relatively few." an editorial in the china daily wondered: "how come an imitation of a democratic system ends up selecting the singer who has the least ability to carry a tune?" as li prepares for a nationwide tour with the other finalists, her handlers are loath to discuss the political dimensions of the program or of li"s triumph. hunan entertainment channel refused time"s requests to interview or photograph li. according to one of her many agents, they were worried the story would portray li as more than just an entertainer. but she is more: li represents unabashed individuality, and that"s why she"s a national icon.
"超女李宇春"英語作文譯文:
中國的影像工業造星乏術。盡管有若幹影星佔據銀幕，也有少數搖滾歌手可以炒熱體育場，但卻鮮有電視銀屏上的面孔能夠真正出位。即便是在國家娛樂活動及電視晚會的歌唱環節中，也總是看見一些換湯不換葯的風塵女子、沙啞的男低音和貌似愉悅的跟班，在軍銜和銅製五星的簇擁下高歌紅旗頌。
而這也正解釋了為什麽一個名叫李宇春的21歲四川女生會成為中國最受歡迎的流行偶像。8月，李宇春在湖南衛視那檔類似“美國偶像”的歌唱比賽中盛出，並贏得了她獨一無二的稱號：“蒙牛酸酸乳超級女聲”(電視節目的贊助商是做酸酸乳的)。這個節目吸引到了中國電視史上最大的觀眾群。當比賽日趨白熱化，媒體就像面對一場戰爭或是辛普森案那樣對比賽進行了報道。在總決選中，約4億人收看了電視直播。被李宇春的狂熱歌迷們追捧的歌聲經不起推敲——那隻是種漂移在雪兒(cher)和你還沒上國中的小弟弟之間的音色。而作為一名舞者，她也強不到哪裏去。超女評審黑楠在接受《廣州日報》採訪時說：“她是六強中唱功最差的”，但是請註意，她依然贏得了最多的觀眾選票。實際上，李宇春現象早已超越了她的歌聲。李宇春所擁有的，是態度、創意和顛覆了中國傳統審美的中性風格。在那個從15萬人中選出15人的預賽階段，李宇春身著寬松的牛仔褲與黑色帶扣襯衫，素面朝天並帶著大衛·鮑伊(david bowie)在演唱《太空星塵(space oddity，1969年發行，譯者註)》時的發型和體型登台亮相，演唱了台灣男歌星劉文正的著名老歌《我的心裏隻有你沒有她》。海選過後，李宇春又演唱了許多為男歌手創作的歌曲並說自己“像男生”。對教條的不屑一顧引來超乎意料的反響，每當李宇春登台亮相，她的“冬粉”們總會淚灑現場或是驚聲尖叫。這檔節目惹惱了北京的高層。在總決選中，李宇春和她的兩位競爭對手不得不將原先安排好的曲目換成民歌。
李宇春的勝利在很多其他方面都顯得與眾不同：類似“美國偶像”——而非中國現狀——“超級女聲”以一個民主的方式運作。800萬簡訊投票劃過決賽當晚的夜空。此後數周，大陸媒體圍繞著這種節目模式展開了爭論。“隻有打破常態的東西才會引起如此大的反響，”人民大學新聞學院教授喻國明在接受《新京報》採訪時說，“但畢竟中國能夠實際的完全用投票的方式進行選擇，機會是比較少的。”《china daily》的社論(《svengalis scramble to decipher super girls" secret》，8月27日，作者周黎明，譯者註)發問：“為什麽一個模擬民主的比賽機製卻選出了唱功最差的歌手呢?”當李宇春準備和其他“超級女聲”展開全國巡演的時候，她的經紀人並不願意在政治層面上談論這檔電視節目和李宇春的勝出。湖南衛視拒絕了《時代》周刊的採訪，也不允許對李宇春進行拍照。經紀公司非常擔心這篇報道會給李宇春扣上藝人以外的帽子。但是，李宇春確實擁有更多含義：她代表了張揚的個性，這就是她成為全國偶像的原因。