meekia

Old and New. Funny Feel.

Local cultures are “not frozen spatially and temporally, awaiting the annihilation by the foreign” (Wang 1997, p. 18). Cultures and values are not static, monolithic creations.

Despite the global capitalist domination of production and distribution means by the West, Western cultural products and their inherent values do not automatically occupy a supreme or superior position in the Chinese consumer’s cultural landscape.
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Translation :

Eminem does not outsell Jay Chow in the Chinese hip hop scene.

The hottest comedian in the Chinese speaking world now is NOT Jon Stewart.


Jon says : Chinese food is delicious

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Some younger Chinese might say that title (hottest comedian in the Chinese speaking world) belongs to a Taiwanese showhost ---
Wu Zong Xian. 吴宗宪


嘿嘿！每年净赚 几千万！！


But if you ask millions of Chinese people in China, well, they'll say it's
GUO DE GANG!! 郭德纲


德云社班主 ：金牌匾，粉皮墙。来的都是客，全凭嘴一张。

He is a living Xiang Sheng* 相声 legend who has been bringing the house down with his awesome performances.

* a traditional Chinese cultural performance featuring two [usually quarrelsome] stand-up comics *

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I got to know about Guo De Gang recently thanks to the special Chinese New Year telecasts of his performances by Phoenix TV (For Sg viewers, that's channel 50 on your basic cable channel buffet menu).

From global trends to local subcultures, Guo weaves down-to-earth details from the everyday lives of mainland Chinese, with hilarious observations that meander from the White House, to a tree with a Goat in his backyard.

When you watch Guo perform, you will be amazed by how he lets contemporary punchlines party with traditional Xiang Sheng structures in a cultural and artistic fusion.

I've tried Googling for "Guo De Gang" (in English) but none of the first 10 results will bring you to websites that will explain to, or show you how fun he is.

If you want to find out more about this Mandarin maestro, you can type 郭德纲 with your PC's Chinese input and the search results will be much more relevant.

Meanwhile, here's a direct link to the man's blog


and here is a Chinese online article that briefly details his background and his current hot status in China

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It's just terribly cool to me how people like Guo and Jay Chow are breathing new life into ancient Chinese cultural forms with their talent.

My apologies to the hardcore purists and traditionalists but :

Fuse with the new or become irrelevant, ignored, and forgotten = )

Nothing can stay monolithic

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Guo De Gang
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posted by audaciousjoy @ 12:40 AM