Gao Ying's blog

I had no idea how to create a podcast, and I wasn’t even familiar with what a podcast was. To educate myself, I searched online to learn its definition and listened to podcasts using the Apple App and a post by my classmate, Heather Herbaugh-Abourezk. Through this exploration, I discovered that a podcast is an audio recording accompanied by background music.

The most crucial step in podcast production is establishing a theme, and fortunately, I had something on my mind that I wanted to express. Since January 27, when news about the “chained mother of eight” began circulating online, I became deeply invested in the story. I spent considerable time reading news articles, watching related videos, and engaging in discussions by leaving comments on posts. The four contradictory investigation reports issued by the local government further piqued my interest. The government sought to suppress this news and prohibited public discourse about it. In my social media platform, Xiaohongshu, I attempted to comment and write articles about the incident, but the media censored my remarks and eventually banned me from posting anything. These censorship measures and government control prompted me to contemplate China’s political system. Concurrently, the story of the unfortunate woman, who had once been a beautiful 12-year-old girl and had suffered rape, torture, and confinement, with her teeth knocked out and her tongue tip severed, filled me with anger, as it did many other Chinese individuals, especially those with daughters. This anger inspired me to reflect on the knowledge I had acquired in China, leading me to decide to discuss it in my first podcast.

With my podcast topic established, I needed to learn how to create it. I turned to YouTube videos for guidance and discovered that the first step was to download podcast creator software. I initially downloaded an app called Audio Editor, which was a music recording editor. I then obtained background music from a Chinese website, selecting a somber-sounding piece to match the tragic nature of my topic. However, I encountered difficulty in pasting the background music into the Audio Editor. I revisited some YouTube videos and downloaded another software called Audacity, which allowed me to successfully add the music and record my narration over it. Initially, the volume of my narration was too low, so I re-recorded it while adjusting the volume accordingly. Additionally, I realized that the background music was too long. Following a tutorial on YouTube, I learned how to trim it to the desired length.

After completing the editing process, I listened to the final product to ensure everything sounded good. I then saved it, which automatically converted the file into an MP3 format. Finally, I submitted the podcast to the assignment page and shared it on the discussion board.

The internet is a world with the same structure and functions as the real world. Invented and formed by the people who live in the real world, the internet is a fictional world where people benefit more or less from it, no matter which country or field they come from. Though there may be some differences in the fictional world, the core quality is the same. It is like the world of heaven or hell, which has people, land, water, fire, and plants, and all these elements are created according to the real world. People communicate, build communities, share information, establish policies, look for friends, make money, and solve actual problems in the internet world. The internet connects the whole world and offers conveniences for people in all fields. Without the internet, this online course cannot benefit many students; we cannot access information and news from other countries without the internet. The internet is a world that is built upon and serves our real world.

The working process of the internet is complicated and detailed, with terminologies similar to the working process of the human brain. It can be divided into the server-side and the browser side. The whole process includes four steps:

1. Users type a word or several words into the search bar of the browser, which enters a URL.
2. The DNS server receives the request and starts to process the input words, assigning orders to different servers to retrieve all the related data from other computers (forming the World Wide Web).
3. The server responds by sending data via the “HyperText Transfer Protocol” (HTTP), and the data are displayed as “entries” or “websites.” Sometimes the content is not a website but a PDF; in that case, the browser parses the data as HTML (HyperText Markup Language) code, and the entry shows up as a PDF-style text (Schwarzmuller, 2019).
4. Before the websites show up on the page, there are three languages used on the browser side to add color, style, and dynamic content. HTML determines the structure, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) handles the styling, and JavaScript adds dynamic content.

For internet users, search is an essential skill. People use the internet to search for all kinds of information, text, or pictures and choose the best ones to meet their requirements. I worked as a data entry professional and gained a lot of practice in searching online. My job involved finding information related to people, movies, TV programs, music, government, biology, and sports, in both English and Chinese. I had to find the best translation names and descriptions, which required filtering through numerous websites. Apart from official websites, we needed to identify the most appropriate and primary sources. One assignment involved identifying the users’ intentions based on the words or sentences they entered in the search bar. This assignment highlighted how the internet deals with data. For example, if a user inputs the word “volleyball,” there will be entries related to volleyball for sale, the definition of volleyball, how to play volleyball, etc. Through this assignment, I learned the importance of knowing what to look for when conducting a search. If I don’t know the exact thing or name, I need to figure it out before filtering the right information from the displayed websites. This approach helps me avoid the mistakes described in “How to be a better web searcher?” (Russell and Callegaro, 2019).

References

Russell, D. M. & Callegaro, M. (2019, March 26). How to be a better web searcher: Secrets from Google scientists. Observations. Retrieved from https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/how-to-be-a-better-web-searcher-secrets-from-google-scientists/

Schwarzmuller, M. (2019, April 15). How the web works. Academind. Retrieved from https://academind.com/tutorials/how-the-web-works

TCK Publishing is an American-based book publisher founded by Tom Corson-Knowles[1] in 2011. Headquartered in Granger, Indiana, TCK Publishing follows a remote working style, with its international employees working from various locations across the globe. TCK Publishing does not charge fees to publish books or pay advances on royalties but instead pays 50% gross royalties[2].

Making a difference, authenticity, learning, connection, and freedom are the values of TCK Publishing. The publisher’s mission is to help writers earn a full-time income from book royalties. Their blogs provide information and resources related to reading, writing, publishing, editing, fitness, health, and news.

In addition to publishing books, the company offers courses to train authors on self-publishing and hosts award contests. TCK Publishing has provided courses such as eBook Publishing School, How to Become a Full-Time Author, Unleash Your Creative Genius, The Complete Kindle Publishing Course, How to Write Nonfiction Like a Pro, Email Marketing Mastery, Systemize Automate Delegate, and How to Build Your Website Like a Pro. They have also held TCK Publishing Reader’s Choice Book Awards contests[3] and short story awards contests[4].

TCK Publishing releases books in various genres, including business and investing, self-help and how-to, health, fitness and dieting, religion and spirituality, general nonfiction, historical romance, contemporary romance, thriller, science fiction, horror, young adult and middle grade, and children’s books.

Authors published by TCK Publishing include Kevin Horsley, Mary Christian Payne, Michelle Paisley Reed, Dr. Veronique Desaulniers, Mort Orman, John Del Gaudio, Susan Campbell, Christo Hall, Franziska Iseli, Dan Johnston, Kusha Karvandi, Debbie Drum, Heidi Eljarbo, Rochelle Katzman, Peter Wood, Jenna Ryan, Joseph Kassabian, Ellie Crowe, Phyllis Perry, Ntathu Allen, Dan Janal, Julia Daniels, Shami Stovall, Angelina Allsop, Michael Mackintosh, Clive Fleury, Vishal Reddy, Mark Spivak, Keith Hendricks, Shai Plonski, Sarah Warren St. Pierre, Don Hartshorn, Jon Richter, Wendi Tardieu, Victor Gold, Peter Yang, Johnny Payne, Michael Cordell, Sez Kristiansen, Dr. Bruce Chalmer, Melissa Steginus, Jeff Morrill, Dr. Bohdanna Zazulak, Maclen Stanley, Lucas Hault, and Jerry Manney.

[1] Gati, Eric. Learn from the Master of Kindle Publishing: Tom Corson-Knowles. The Daily Interview. Retrieved April 15, 2022.

[2] TCK Publishing Official Website. Retrieved April 15, 2022.

[3] TCK Publishing Reader’s Choice Book Awards. American Writers Museum. Retrieved April 15, 2022.

[4] Short Story Awards Contest. The Writer. Retrieved April 15, 2022.

Hello, everyone; welcome to Ying’s channel. Today, I am going to talk about an unfortunate event. On January 27, 2022, a video about a woman chained in a cold, crappy room with thin clothes in the winter in Xuzhou, China, has spread online inside and outside of the country, leading to hot discussion and concerns. Even though the Chinese government requires all its social media to report the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, this poor woman’s suffering overrides the Olympic Games. It stays a hot topic that forces the local government to make four investigation reports. Still, netizens don’t buy them because they are not reasonable. At last, the province has to form an investigating team to examine this event.

Why is this event so important to Chinese people, especially when all social media are shut up and all movie stars, writers, artists, and professors stay quiet? Why doesn’t it die out like the other hot topics but grow hotter and hotter online? There are two reasons.

First, it destroys many mid-class people’s confidence in living in a beautiful and peaceful environment. Because this chained woman once was a pretty girl and elementary school student. At 12, she was kidnapped and sold to many men. They raped and tortured her. They hammered off all her teeth, cut off her tongue tip, and damaged her vocal cords to avoid her resistance. When a journalist found her, she had been locked as a madwoman by a poor, uneducated farmer and forced to give birth to at least eight children. This news shocked women and men who realized their daughters, sisters, and mothers could meet the same tragedy. This event is related to people’s daily life and threatens their safety. The knowledge that there are cruel things that happen in poor places wakes them up and, at the same time, worries them.

Second, like I, some people have a chance to read a direct report from YouTube or Twitter that people inside China cannot reach. We now know that a single evil man cannot chain the woman for over 20 years without the help of other villagers and local government officers. That’s why the local government keeps lying to the public. Then we must rethink what we have learned about our country in the past, and then we realize we were brainwashed by the government, which told lies about many things. We feel disappointed and angry and try to adjust our views about the world, people, and life.

The fifth, maybe the final, investigation report was published on February 22. People still don’t believe in it because many questions aren’t explained or have no solid evidence to support them; some explanations are fake and twisted. Some people trust the government because their knowledge about the world is narrowed, and they are brainwashed that the government must be right. People abroad who have access to open news and knowledge worry about those who lose the ability to distinguish right from wrong.

We go through doubting and adjusting our old knowledge system by accessing new channels and hearing different opinions. We worry about people who couldn’t reach new knowledge and thus have no discriminability.

In 1991, when I was nine years old and a fourth-grade student, the remote and impoverished village where I was born and raised got its first television. It was a second-hand black and white TV that my uncle, who lived in the city, gave to my third uncle. The entire village was shocked, and everyone rushed to my third uncle’s house to watch the only TV show available – “The Legend of the Snake” (new version). The show aired two episodes each week. My uncle had to construct an antenna to receive the signal, and we often encountered situations where the TV screen would suddenly turn into static during the show.

Watching that TV show sparked a lifelong interest in imagination for me. In the show, a snake transformed into a beautiful woman and married a doctor to repay him for saving her thousands of years ago. However, a monk did not approve of their true love and captured and imprisoned her in Leifeng Tower in Hangzhou. I felt sorry for the woman and angry at the monk, so I would imagine myself as a strong woman with magical powers who could defeat the monk and rescue the woman, allowing her to live happily ever after with her husband. Imagining such scenarios became a regular practice for me every night before falling asleep and every morning upon waking up. After watching a film or TV show, seeing a picture, or reading a book, my vivid imagination would occur while walking on a road, working on the farm, or engaging in activities that didn’t require my full concentration.

In 2000, I graduated from a teacher’s training school and became an elementary school teacher earning a monthly salary of 400 RMB (approximately 70 USD). At the end of the year, my parents wanted to sell one pig to buy a TV, but the price of the pig was too low to afford a television. So, I bought our first TV, a color one, and my parents slaughtered two pigs to make smoked meat for protein throughout the year. This time, we didn’t need an antenna, but a satellite dish to receive signals, and we had access to more than 50 channels. My entire family gathered to watch the Chinese New Year’s Gala together, and my two younger brothers were more excited than I was because owning a TV had been their dream. Soon, televisions became popular in my village and at my school, and I was exposed to various dramas and live shows. I also became familiar with TV programs from other countries like South Korea, Japan, and the US. All these programs further expanded my imagination, and I began writing down my imaginative thoughts, eventually shaping my lifelong career aspiration: to become a writer.

In 2006, computers gained popularity in my hometown city, and I was fascinated by them. I started watching shows on computers instead of TVs because I didn’t have to wait for weekly episode updates. As the internet rapidly developed, computers and cellphones provided me with more information and news. However, I felt that my imagination became more fragmented. I still believe that televisions offer clearer images than computers. Eventually, my parents agreed to sell the ten-year-old TV in our home, and my brother bought them an LCD TV.

In 2014, I moved to the US. I noticed that televisions were not only found in living rooms but also in kitchens, bedrooms, garages, and cabins. Until my son turned two, we didn’t buy a TV because computers and cellphones fulfilled our daily needs. However, once my son began understanding children’s movies, we purchased a large TV for the living room to protect his eyes (as I developed astigmatism from using small cellphone screens). Nowadays, apart from occasionally watching cartoons with my kids, I seldom use the TV.

Our TV is mostly used by my son to play video games or watch Netflix shows. I believe that computers, cellphones, and iPads will eventually replace televisions, and the era of television will come to an end soon. However, I am grateful for the immense interest that television has sparked in me and the benefits it has brought. I love and appreciate TVs. The only concern I have regarding television is how to handle old televisions and television waste.

I’ve been feeling extremely stressed out lately, which has made it difficult for me to focus on my favorite activities like reading and writing. I’ve lost interest in enjoying the last days of summer in Minnesota, and even cooking meals has become a daunting task. When it’s time to sleep, my mind gets filled with negative thoughts and scary imaginations, making it hard for me to fall asleep. Instead of cleaning my messy house, I find solace in indulging myself in soap dramas all day. It’s only when I watch these shows that I can momentarily escape from my fears and worries.

There are several reasons contributing to my stress. Firstly, I took four courses during the summer semester, and I didn’t perform as well as I had hoped in two of them, receiving a B instead of an A. Secondly, the ongoing pandemic has forced us to stay at home for over half a year, depriving us of the joy of experiencing the outside world. Thirdly, the new fall semester is approaching, adding more pressure and responsibilities. Lastly, the most significant stressor of all is the deteriorating health of my husband. I’ve witnessed him losing weight and becoming frail, experiencing constant stomach cramps that hinder his ability to walk properly. It’s heartbreaking to see him in such a miserable state.

Unfortunately, I don’t have an outlet to vent my stress. My family and friends are back in China, and I don’t want to burden them with my worries. I don’t have any friends here in the US, and I wish I did. I understand that stress is detrimental to my well-being, and I need to find ways to alleviate it because I am the sole support system for my husband and two children. Falling ill is not an option for me. This blog serves as my only means to express my concerns and fears, and I hope that by doing so, I can alleviate some of the burden on my shoulders. I genuinely hope that everything will improve soon!

On April 24, 2020, I had the opportunity to watch Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night on the National Theatre’s official YouTube website. This production, lasting 2 hours and 42 minutes and featuring English subtitles, was a live recording of a stage performance from 2017. Directed by Simon Godwin, the play boasted a talented cast including Tamsin Greig, Daniel Rigby, Tamara Lawrence, Doon Mackichan, and Daniel Ezra. Despite watching it online, I could still feel the energy of the packed theater.

Twelfth Night, one of Shakespeare’s renowned comedies, revolves around two main plots. The first centers on twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated during a shipwreck, each presuming the other to be dead. Viola disguises herself as a man to serve Duke Orsino, who is infatuated with the wealthy Olivia. However, Olivia ends up falling in love with Viola, while Viola herself is smitten with the Duke. Meanwhile, Captain Antonio rescues Sebastian, and they develop a close friendship. Eventually, Olivia mistakes Sebastian for Viola, leading to a romantic entanglement, while the Duke discovers his true feelings for Viola. The second plot involves the characters Toby, Maria, Andrew, Clown, and Fabian, who harbor a strong dislike for Olivia’s steward, Malvolio, and conspire to play a cruel trick on him.

The National Theatre’s production remains faithful to the original play while rearranging certain scenes for a smoother narrative flow. Notably, they placed “Scene First of Act Second” before “Scene Fifth of Act First.”

I was particularly impressed by the character of Malvolio, portrayed by the talented Tamsin Greig. Through her performance, we witnessed the transformation of a cold-hearted and conservative steward into a woman with a caring and romantic heart. Greig fearlessly donned the yellow stockings with cross-garters, as instructed in the infamous letter. She skillfully conveyed Malvolio’s internal struggles when mistaken for a madwoman by her mistress, her fear while confined in darkness, and her profound sadness upon discovering the truth about the trick played on her by Olivia. I couldn’t help but feel immense sympathy for her and wished for a more positive outcome. Towards the end of the show, I even found myself imagining that Toby or Andrew might fall in love with her.

In addition to the compelling performances, I greatly admired the set design and music of the production. The introductory music by the saxophone player set a comedic tone for the entire play. The incorporation of modern lighting and contemporary dances during the musical interludes created a lighthearted and relaxed atmosphere, effectively bridging the gap between the “ancient” story and the present. All the actors showcased their singing talents, with the actress playing the Clown delivering a remarkable performance on par with that of a professional musician. While watching the show, I compared it to the original work and found myself in awe of the musicians who composed the beautiful and impactful songs and poems. They even included a musical rendition of Shakespeare’s famous quote: “To be or not to be, that is the question.” The lighting effects, particularly the use of blue lights to depict the ship and the dynamic backdrop during the dance sequences, were stunning. The flashing lights and rhythmic music created an atmosphere reminiscent of a disco room, which was an unexpected yet delightful connection to Shakespeare’s story. The various set elements, such as the curved potting, the wooden stairs resembling a ship, and the running water setting, added further visual effects to the production. The costumes were equally impressive, reflecting the comedic impact and bridging the gap between the Shakespearean and modern periods. The outfits worn by the Clown, Malvolia, and Andrew showcased the incredible imagination and design talent of the costume designer.

Watching this show, I gained valuable insights that withstand the test of time: true love surpasses material wealth and power, and women should enjoy equal rights as men.

Helen Mirren, whose full name is Dame Helen Mirren, was born on 26 July 1945 in Chiswick, London. Her real name is IIlynea Lydia Mironoff. Mirren grew up in Essex, England. Her mother, Kathleen, was English, and her father, Vaisly Mironoff, was a Russian immigrant who later changed the family name to Mirren (Green and Heyman, 2). Helen began her career in 1965 at the age of 20 when she played the role of Cleopatra in the theatre production of Anthony and Cleopatra at the National Youth Theatre. Over her 50-year acting career, Mirren has portrayed numerous successful roles in theatre and has earned a reputation for her stage performances.

When she embarked on her career, Mirren expressed her desire to become like Sarah Bernhardt to her elder sister before auditioning for Britain’s National Youth Theatre. She succeeded in the audition and made her debut on the stage. Throughout her career, Mirren has portrayed various characters on stage, including Phedre, a role previously played by Bernhardt from her twenties to her late sixties. John Lahr compares Mirren and Bernhardt and concludes that “Mirren’s performance has been shown globally on more than two hundred screens so far and seen by about thirty-five thousand paying customers. Statistically speaking, Mirren, not Bernhardt, is now the most famous Phedre of all time” (1).

Phedre tells the story of the wife of Theseus, the king of Athens, who falls in love with Theseus’ son, Hippolytus. Hippolytus, however, loves Aricia, the daughter of a former enemy, whom his father has forbidden him to marry. Lahr comments, “Phedre’s obsessive, autoerotic suffering runs the risk of being dramatically one-note; Mirren, however, finds deep seams of emotional truth that transcend Racine’s structural contrivance. She parses Phedre’s brazen abasement with an excitement that manages to suggest both self-destruction and sensuality, both guilt and predatory wiles” (2). Mirren achieved great success in this tragic theatre production.

Another famous and successful stage role of Mirren’s is her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in the Broadway transfer of The Audience. This play, directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Peter Morgan, explores the private meetings between the monarch and her prime ministers over her 60-year reign. Mirren received much praise for her performance in this role. Variety critic Marilyn Stasio suggests that Mirren may win a Tony award. Ben Brantley describes her as “smashing.” Theatre critic Michael Glitz comments, “[N]one of it would matter without Mirren.” Elisabeth Vincetelli of The New York Post writes, “[T]o the surprise of exactly no one, Helen Mirren is absolutely terrific as Queen Elizabeth II in The Audience” (BBC NEWS).

From 1965 to 2015, Mirren has played roles in more than 30 theatre productions. In her performance in A Month in the Country, Mirren portrays a character whose passion is intertwined with jealousy, joy, rage, treachery, and a constant sense of disappointment. Her performance brought much laughter to the audience and elevated the play to new heights. Benedict Nightingale writes for The Times:

 I have not space to talk you through the monologue in which Natalya imagines Vera and the tutor in each other’s arms. Take my word that she stands there, alone and exposed and obliged to use a superannuated form of dramatic address; and yet she could not be more natural in her switches from pain to canny calculation to rapture to self-loathing to hope to despair. We in the audience laughed, and it did not matter. We were touched, and that was good, too. We all knew we were watching a major actress in her prime. (“A Month in the Country”)

When asked whether it was different, doing theater with new people, Mirren answered that “it’s the great pain and the great magic of theatre: there are infinite ways to play any role, and there are infinite ways of playing any lie. Quite often I ask someone else to say a line for me – a bit presumptuous to ask them to do a whole speech for you. But everybody inflects a line—the difference is infinitesimal—but it’s different” (Mirren and Eyre). For A Month in the Country, Mirren received a Tony nomination; for Orpheus Descending and Mourning Becomes Electra, she was nominated for an Olivier Best Actress Award; for The Audience, she won an Olivier Award, a What’s On Stage award, and the Tony Awards for Best Actress.

Besides theatre, Mirren also has done a great job in films and TV programs. Mirren can shift roles between theater, television, and film comfortably, and she never narrowed herself to a single character or to a special genre of theater; she can do many characters and she can play in different kind of genres.  In her career, Mirren is a professional actress; in real life, she is a kind lady who cares about people and the world and engages in charities. She is “actively involved with a number of charities, including Oxfam, with whom she originally worked some years ago on the Rwandan crisis, presenting a petition to Downing Street” (Perchard). In the early 1980s, Mirren had lived with actor Liam Neeson. In 1997, she married American film director Taylor Hackford, who is one year older than her and they live a lowkey life in L.A.

In her over 50 years acting career, Mirren has created many classic characters on stage, like Phedre in Phedre, Queen Elizabeth II in The Audience, Natalya Petrovna in A month in the Country. Her performances are applauded by the audience members around the world and she is nominated or wins awards as Best Actress. Her unique, natural, and professional acting skills make her outstanding. The play roles Mirren has created will not be forgotten. Her contribution to theater field both in the US and England will be written in history and her success sets her as an example for people in the world who are pursuing a theater performance career.

Work Cited

“A Month in the Country”, Celebrating the life and career of Dame Helen Mirren: www.helen-mirren.net/content/career/theatre/1994amonthinthecountry.html

“Biography,” Home/Recent News, www.helenmirren.com

Green, Mary, and J. D. Heyman, “Helen Mirren: ‘I’m Constantly Evolving’.” People, vol. 92, no. 22, pp50-52. EBSCO, accarcproxy.mnpals.net/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=keh&AN=139662848&site=ehost-live

“Helen Mirren Rules Broadway as Queen Elizabeth II.” BBC NEWS, 9 March 2015. http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-31795331

Lahr, John, “Sex in the Head.” New Yorker, vol. 85, no. 21, pp78-79. EBSCO, accarcproxy.mnpals.net/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=43623782&site=ehost-live

Mirren, Helen, and Peter Eyre. “Helen Mirren.” BOMB, no. 52, 1995, pp. 36–41. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40425607. Accessed 6 May 2020.

Perchard, Alex, and Helen Mirren. “Helen Mirren.” RSA Journal, vol. 153, no. 5521, 2006, pp. 16–17. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41379656. Accessed 6 May 2020. 

In China Central Television’s Spring Festival Gala of 1987, Chinese-American singer Kris Phillips (Fei Xiang) danced when he sang the song Sexy Music. It was a new performance style to Chinese people, and its immodest surprised the audiences. Phillips and his dances became nationally famous in one night. He described in a talk show (Jin Xing Show) that the photographers of the gala were too astonished at his dance to photograph his dances, but focused on his face. Liu Huan is a famous singer and songwriter in China, and in his serious Chinese song, Asking Ten Thousand Times, inserts two English sentences: “Time and time again you ask me; Time and time again I ask myself.” This song was recorded in 1993. In the TV contest Super-Vocal 1, held in 2018, three young Chinese singers adapted the American song The Sound of Silence to a trio and they placed first in the contest. These three cases illuminate one truth: Chinese popular music has been influenced by American music styles.

In 1978, the Chinese government started a policy of economic reform and “opening-up”, under which foreigners were now welcomed and Chinese citizens were encouraged to travel abroad. Paul Friedlander points out in his essay “China’s ‘Newer Value’ Pop: Rock-and-Roll and Technology on the New Long March” that “[W]ith the end of the Cultural Revolution, economic reform, prompted increased international commerce; many students and business people travelled to the west, and soon after arrival began to send their friends and families back home a flood of packages of Western goods, including Western popular music.” Before the economic reform policy was carried out, popular music in China was less creative and less popular. During the performance, singers stood still on the stage without any gestures or dances. As time passed, Chinese popular music was more and more influenced by western music. As Hon-Lun Yang mentions in his essay “Music, China, and the West: A Musical-Theoretical,” he notes that “…Sino-Western musical interchanges within the West, especially interchanges pertaining to Chinese-American or Asian-American musical interactions within Canada and the United States.”

Three reasons have accelerated American music’s influence on Chinese popular music. First, the English language has been a required course for students beginning in middle school in China, which brought American culture into China, including music. Second, American television shows and films have been spread in China. The third and most importantly, American singers hold live performances in China frequently, and American tapes and CDs have occupied China’s markets. In the essay “The Expression of Chineseness and Americanness in Chinese popular Music: A Comparison of ABC Pop Stars Wang Leehom and Vanness Wu”, the author Boxi Chen reports that “in the early 1960s, American influenced on Taiwanese music, and it was decades later, around the early 1990s, Chinese popular music has been influenced by an increasing number of Chinee American musicians who decided to build their careers in China.” One important reason these Chinese-American musicians decided to come back to China is the economy of China has become “more prominent” (Chen) and the country offers good chances for people to pursue success in their careers.

American’s influences on Chinese popular music include the aspects below:

1. Lyrics and rhythm. In the beginning, as Friedlander points out, Chinese popular music followed “the formula which emphasized melody and lyrics rather than heavy distortion and a strong beat” and the lyrics usually focus on “romantic and historical topics.” 
2. Musical equipment. Electric guitars, trap drum sets, and pianos became popular in China. 
3. Live performance. Since the early 1990s, live performance thrived. Though most people couldn’t afford to buy a ticket to attend a live performance, many TV channels put on live performance recordings which included singers from America, like Michael Jackson, Madonna, and the Backstreet Boys.
4. Recordings. Friedlander points out that “Western-influenced popular music now pervades Chinese youth culture. Popular music cassettes are available in every part of the country from the shops of Beijing to the street vendor stalls in towns near the Tibetan border.”

In addition to the influence American music has had on both popular songwriting topics and performances styles, musical contests in China have also been impacted. In these contests, performing American songs become popular for the participants. In addition, these songs extend beyond a Chinese-only audience due to their use of English lyrics; the world is their audience. As Lijuan Qian writes in his essay “Which Identity Matters? Competing Ethnicities in Chinese TV Music Contests”, “A huge market for Anglo-American televised music and music-related talent contests has arisen, based in the world’s largest national network of around 4,000 TV stations, this serving a population of over 1.3 billion with over 731 million internet users. Such programs include The Voice of China (Zhongguo hao shengyin), Chinese Idol (Zhongguo meng zhi sheng), I am a Singer (Wo shi geshou), Sing My Song (Zhongguo hao gequ), and China Star (Zhongguo zhi xing), each of which sustains a high viewership.”

Since Kris Phillips brought the American style of pop song onstage performance to China, the Chinese pop song world started a new epoch. Based on the influence of America, Chinese popular music is connected not only with the western countries, but with the whole world, which is an unavoidable trend. I agree with Hon-Lun Yang’s notes that “A new generation of Chinese performers and composers is capturing world-wide attention, and Chinese composers’ compositions are foregrounding a complex synergy of Chinese and Western musical elements.”

Work Cited

Chen, Boxi. “The Expression of Chineseness and Americanness in Chinese Popular Music: A Comparison of ABC Pop Stars Wang Leehom and Vanness Wu.” Asian Music, vol. 43, no. 2, 2012, pp. 71–87., http://www.jstor.org/stable/23253610. Accessed 12 Apr. 2020.

Friedlander, Paul. “China’s ‘Newer Value’ Pop: Rock-and-Roll and Technology on the New Long March.” Asian Music, vol. 22, no. 2, 1991, pp. 67–81. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/834307. Accessed 12 Apr. 2020.

Liu, Huan. Asking Ten Thousand Times, YouTube, 5 Feb 2016, https://youtu.be/9eLSkZDbVts

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One morning, I woke up from a vivid dream in which I had eaten a kind of food I loved when I was in China. It was sold by a small movable cart, and the seller would put a spoonful of sweet rice in a bowl covered with a tiny plastic bag. He added cooked shredded carrots, potatoes, pork, kelp, fish mint, and a spoonful of special spicy sauce. Then, he covered it with another spoonful of sweet rice and finally squeezed the plastic bag into a ball. When I bit into it, a taste filled my mouth immediately, mixing sweet, sour, spicy, sticky, and fresh crispy veggies. The feeling of that dream stayed with me for the whole day, and I couldn’t stop thinking about those days when I was in college in China. In the mornings, my friends and I would go to the school gate to buy that food. It was one of the happiest and most memorable moments of my college life.

Last year, my husband’s grandma held a family reunion in Wisconsin. As we drove across a bridge, we stopped on the road alongside a big farm covered with corn and saw many raspberries hanging from the branches on one side of the road. In that moment, I felt like I was back in my hometown, on our own land where my mom and dad were planting corn and my brothers and I were picking raspberries. Although that feeling didn’t last long, it gave me the illusion that I had returned to my youth with my family in China.

Sometimes, when I listen to an old song or see a fragment of an old movie, I am transported back to a long-lost time. Memories flash so vividly that I can still feel the exact emotions I had when I first heard the song or watched the film. Occasionally, we may encounter someone unfamiliar who resembles an old friend we have lost contact with for a long time, and we can’t help but feel a sense of familiarity towards the stranger, as if they were our old friend.

All of these situations are related to “nostalgia” – a feeling of recalling the past, the places we have lived, or the happy moments we have experienced. Every person experiences nostalgia – missing old times, old friends, hometown, or home-cooked food. Unlike homesickness, which can cause depression and illness, nostalgia may make us feel a little lost, but it also has positive influences. For me, nostalgia inspires me to write. When I had that dream, I couldn’t help but write down what I had dreamed, my feelings, and my thoughts.

Nostalgia reminds us to cherish every day because we know that today will become a nostalgic memory in the future. It encourages us to cherish our family and friends, even if they are not physically present with us. We can reach out to them and let them know that we miss and love them. Currently, nostalgia is the biggest motivation for me to study hard and find a better job, so that I can save enough money to fly back to China to see my old friends, be with my family, savor Chinese food, and visit the places that have been lingering in my dreams!