summercomfort (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
summercomfort) wrote2025-01-28 10:29 pm
summercomfort) wrote2025-01-28 10:29 pm
New Year Gala!
Yay happy new year! 'Tis the year of the snake. My dad informed me that Chairman Mao was born in the year of the snake. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Anyway, I've only had the chance to watch the songs this year (I should watch the skits some time, but it's always harder bc it's a solo activity since no one else finds them funny)
Overall not as good as last year -- the diversity feels more cursory, each of the non-Beijing sites feel more tourism-driven, and there's a lot more slow songs and dances, which made the whole program drag.
The theme of the year is about celebrating ordinary life, which is why there's so many slow songs. Here's the song with the "thesis statement", if you will: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkVbgNV1zyo&t=1302s (如意). The refrain there is about how every normal day is a day that goes according to your wish (每个平凡日子 都叫做万事如意), so it's really about leaning into and celebrating the every day. I don't particularly like the song, but I guess I should link to the thesis statement.
Here's a few theme-relevant segments that I liked:
- 我可以 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGmRP_9qf9o&t=1509s -- the refrain is "can I let my life fill with dreams? can I let those dreams reflect into reality? can I let my self be myself?" and is about daring to choose to build a simple life with a loved one. There's something really nice about having this quiet moment of introspection, sung by two guys on a blissfully empty stage. Honestly my favorite song of this year -- solid refrain, nice rap section in the middle.
- 住在心里的人 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzBN6K6o6Ec&t=2864s is about grandparents. It starts with a little "commercial" segment, and then phases into the song. I definitely teared up, although I think it has more to do with the clips and the lyrics than the song itself. (The melody isn't bad, it's just kind of generic)
- There's two other little segments, one is about going home and having the New Year's Eve meal together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkVbgNV1zyo&t=1s , and the other is about the train ride home, past and present: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkVbgNV1zyo&t=660s . They're both secretly booze commercials, but the food one features a mixed-race family, which is nice of them.
This year they had 4 different side stages, so each stage had less time. Here's the 4 locations, in decending order of how much I liked them:
The Lhasa section starts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzBN6K6o6Ec&t=453s There's some interesting stuff going on -- the first section is about the 6.8 earthquake that happened on Jan 7, and the resulting government support in setting up temporary housing, etc. Then there's a whole song and dance in front of Potala Palace (with Chinese flag very prominent), on a stage that has a digital mandala pattern going on (but not... a traditional Buddhist mandala?), which starts with the most classic Tibetan Chinese communist folk song. And then it transitions to some glamorous tourist shots of Tibet that definitely makes me want to go visit. And then there's a rousing end back at the magic mandala. It's really a pretty awesome 8 minutes, tbh. They were, as the youths say, "cooking".
The Wuhan 武汉 section starts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGmRP_9qf9o&t=2378s There's a digital phoenix. There's some Chinese opera. There's a person inexplicably doing aerial silks on a seemingly-digital lantern suspended over a boat in the middle of the river. There's a part where a bunch of dancers merge to make a single giant woman-phoenix. A little to digital augmented reality for my tastes, but at least there's no giant Li Bai reciting poetry on top of the Great Goose Pagoda like what happened in Chang'an last year, so ... not bad. Solid 7 minutes
The Chongqing 重庆 section starts here: https://youtu.be/DbMNc1oxi-g?t=2401 It... has way more cars in it than expected? Including a section that's all made of car tail-lights?? The whole thing is only 6 minutes, compared to the 10-ish minutes that last year's side stages had. tbh the cars was the best part of it. (although the later new years well wishes section does give us a few glimpses of Buddhas)
The Wuxi 无锡 section starts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzBN6K6o6Ec&t=4274s . It was pretty generic, trying to present a heavily idealized version of Song dynasty China. Tbh I was surprised that Wuxi was chosen, since it is like, a 3rd tier city, at most. But I guess if you like Chinese people doing historical cosplay and floating around on boats while trying to show off their local crafts, you might like this?
And finally, a selection of songs:
栋梁: https://youtu.be/DbMNc1oxi-g?t=655 a song about Chinese architecture. But it's weirdly over-simplified?? Worth a lot of analysis. Also: I want their outfits.
秧BOT is not good, per se, but I guess if you want to see creepy robots try to do a traditional handkerchief dance, it's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbMNc1oxi-g&t=2782s
妥妥的 Okay, the conceit of this is that some people with cell phones on selfie sticks went into the backstage rehearsals and then coerced random people into making an ad hoc song and saying some new year's blessings. It's definitely more planned than they make it out to be, but also more chaotic and unrehearsed than everything else. My guess is that they floated the idea first, then showed up and spent an hour or so corralling people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbMNc1oxi-g&t=4026s
玉盘 This year they have this gimmick where they find random commoners to introduce the performances. The person introducing the song is part of the Chinese space program, and he talks about sending chang'e 6 to the moon. Then they have a song where a kids chorus from the part of Sichuan where the chang'e 1-4 were launched sing a song about the moon: https://youtu.be/DbMNc1oxi-g?t=3472 . The song's quite nice, and has a folk song flair to it. The graphics are ... odd. There's altogether too much astronaut.
我的家 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzBN6K6o6Ec&t=3159s This is another one where the introduction makes it more interesting -- the two kids who are introducing the song are from Xinjiang, and the younger kid's Mandarin is clearly better, which makes me wonder about how thorough the cultural penetration has been in the past few years. They are carrying roses from where they live, where they have just completed the Great Green Wall. The song then features various environmental workers singing about the importance of land (and country) preservation. (In addition to the Green Great Wall, there's also someone doing marshland restoration, someone doing grasslands management in Inner Mongolia, a number of people from various national parks, etc) I usually expect a "protect our motherland" sort of song, but it's nice that this one has an environmental focus.
湾区乐好 was such a nice palette cleanser after all those slow songs. It's a Cantonese classic pop song medley. https://youtu.be/mGmRP_9qf9o?t=2002
潮起舞英歌 Strangely macho song and dance?? Maybe it's about Zheng He? At least there's boats. But the dancers clearly have A Vibe but it's not any specific Chinese opera, I don't think?? And the singer must be on 9 inch heels or something because her legs are disproportionately tall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkVbgNV1zyo&t=90s
山鹰和兰花花 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkVbgNV1zyo&t=2003s . Me: oh yay finally a genuine Shaanbei folk song. Spouse: wait, is that... El Condor Pasa? On the panpipes? So um.. yeah, they decided to try to combine a Chinese folk song and a Peruvian folk song? I dunno why? The last few seconds when they actually bother to combine them is pretty rad, but there's too much El Condor Pasa imo. (Though it's still less confusing than when Wuhan decided to host OneRepublic playing Counting Stars for no apparent reason)
Do you like writhing, half-naked men doing a dance that is vaguely about being one with nature but is also maybe about elephants stomping in the jungle but is also incorporating traditional Daizu moves? Well, here ya go: 太平有象 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkVbgNV1zyo&t=3521s
The Army one is pretty generic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkVbgNV1zyo&t=749s (青春奔赴), as was the Regular Worker + Economic Development one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkVbgNV1zyo&t=1046s (伟业). But I figured I should put them here for posterity. I counted 4 whole free trade zones.
There wasn't an Ethnic Minorities Dance!! I'm confused. I guess they're just integrating said minorities into other songs, etc? What does this say about diversity in China?
Anyway, I've only had the chance to watch the songs this year (I should watch the skits some time, but it's always harder bc it's a solo activity since no one else finds them funny)
Overall not as good as last year -- the diversity feels more cursory, each of the non-Beijing sites feel more tourism-driven, and there's a lot more slow songs and dances, which made the whole program drag.
The theme of the year is about celebrating ordinary life, which is why there's so many slow songs. Here's the song with the "thesis statement", if you will: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkVbgNV1zyo&t=1302s (如意). The refrain there is about how every normal day is a day that goes according to your wish (每个平凡日子 都叫做万事如意), so it's really about leaning into and celebrating the every day. I don't particularly like the song, but I guess I should link to the thesis statement.
Here's a few theme-relevant segments that I liked:
- 我可以 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGmRP_9qf9o&t=1509s -- the refrain is "can I let my life fill with dreams? can I let those dreams reflect into reality? can I let my self be myself?" and is about daring to choose to build a simple life with a loved one. There's something really nice about having this quiet moment of introspection, sung by two guys on a blissfully empty stage. Honestly my favorite song of this year -- solid refrain, nice rap section in the middle.
- 住在心里的人 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzBN6K6o6Ec&t=2864s is about grandparents. It starts with a little "commercial" segment, and then phases into the song. I definitely teared up, although I think it has more to do with the clips and the lyrics than the song itself. (The melody isn't bad, it's just kind of generic)
- There's two other little segments, one is about going home and having the New Year's Eve meal together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkVbgNV1zyo&t=1s , and the other is about the train ride home, past and present: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkVbgNV1zyo&t=660s . They're both secretly booze commercials, but the food one features a mixed-race family, which is nice of them.
This year they had 4 different side stages, so each stage had less time. Here's the 4 locations, in decending order of how much I liked them:
The Lhasa section starts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzBN6K6o6Ec&t=453s There's some interesting stuff going on -- the first section is about the 6.8 earthquake that happened on Jan 7, and the resulting government support in setting up temporary housing, etc. Then there's a whole song and dance in front of Potala Palace (with Chinese flag very prominent), on a stage that has a digital mandala pattern going on (but not... a traditional Buddhist mandala?), which starts with the most classic Tibetan Chinese communist folk song. And then it transitions to some glamorous tourist shots of Tibet that definitely makes me want to go visit. And then there's a rousing end back at the magic mandala. It's really a pretty awesome 8 minutes, tbh. They were, as the youths say, "cooking".
The Wuhan 武汉 section starts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGmRP_9qf9o&t=2378s There's a digital phoenix. There's some Chinese opera. There's a person inexplicably doing aerial silks on a seemingly-digital lantern suspended over a boat in the middle of the river. There's a part where a bunch of dancers merge to make a single giant woman-phoenix. A little to digital augmented reality for my tastes, but at least there's no giant Li Bai reciting poetry on top of the Great Goose Pagoda like what happened in Chang'an last year, so ... not bad. Solid 7 minutes
The Chongqing 重庆 section starts here: https://youtu.be/DbMNc1oxi-g?t=2401 It... has way more cars in it than expected? Including a section that's all made of car tail-lights?? The whole thing is only 6 minutes, compared to the 10-ish minutes that last year's side stages had. tbh the cars was the best part of it. (although the later new years well wishes section does give us a few glimpses of Buddhas)
The Wuxi 无锡 section starts here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzBN6K6o6Ec&t=4274s . It was pretty generic, trying to present a heavily idealized version of Song dynasty China. Tbh I was surprised that Wuxi was chosen, since it is like, a 3rd tier city, at most. But I guess if you like Chinese people doing historical cosplay and floating around on boats while trying to show off their local crafts, you might like this?
And finally, a selection of songs:
栋梁: https://youtu.be/DbMNc1oxi-g?t=655 a song about Chinese architecture. But it's weirdly over-simplified?? Worth a lot of analysis. Also: I want their outfits.
秧BOT is not good, per se, but I guess if you want to see creepy robots try to do a traditional handkerchief dance, it's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbMNc1oxi-g&t=2782s
妥妥的 Okay, the conceit of this is that some people with cell phones on selfie sticks went into the backstage rehearsals and then coerced random people into making an ad hoc song and saying some new year's blessings. It's definitely more planned than they make it out to be, but also more chaotic and unrehearsed than everything else. My guess is that they floated the idea first, then showed up and spent an hour or so corralling people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbMNc1oxi-g&t=4026s
玉盘 This year they have this gimmick where they find random commoners to introduce the performances. The person introducing the song is part of the Chinese space program, and he talks about sending chang'e 6 to the moon. Then they have a song where a kids chorus from the part of Sichuan where the chang'e 1-4 were launched sing a song about the moon: https://youtu.be/DbMNc1oxi-g?t=3472 . The song's quite nice, and has a folk song flair to it. The graphics are ... odd. There's altogether too much astronaut.
我的家 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzBN6K6o6Ec&t=3159s This is another one where the introduction makes it more interesting -- the two kids who are introducing the song are from Xinjiang, and the younger kid's Mandarin is clearly better, which makes me wonder about how thorough the cultural penetration has been in the past few years. They are carrying roses from where they live, where they have just completed the Great Green Wall. The song then features various environmental workers singing about the importance of land (and country) preservation. (In addition to the Green Great Wall, there's also someone doing marshland restoration, someone doing grasslands management in Inner Mongolia, a number of people from various national parks, etc) I usually expect a "protect our motherland" sort of song, but it's nice that this one has an environmental focus.
湾区乐好 was such a nice palette cleanser after all those slow songs. It's a Cantonese classic pop song medley. https://youtu.be/mGmRP_9qf9o?t=2002
潮起舞英歌 Strangely macho song and dance?? Maybe it's about Zheng He? At least there's boats. But the dancers clearly have A Vibe but it's not any specific Chinese opera, I don't think?? And the singer must be on 9 inch heels or something because her legs are disproportionately tall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkVbgNV1zyo&t=90s
山鹰和兰花花 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkVbgNV1zyo&t=2003s . Me: oh yay finally a genuine Shaanbei folk song. Spouse: wait, is that... El Condor Pasa? On the panpipes? So um.. yeah, they decided to try to combine a Chinese folk song and a Peruvian folk song? I dunno why? The last few seconds when they actually bother to combine them is pretty rad, but there's too much El Condor Pasa imo. (Though it's still less confusing than when Wuhan decided to host OneRepublic playing Counting Stars for no apparent reason)
Do you like writhing, half-naked men doing a dance that is vaguely about being one with nature but is also maybe about elephants stomping in the jungle but is also incorporating traditional Daizu moves? Well, here ya go: 太平有象 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkVbgNV1zyo&t=3521s
The Army one is pretty generic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkVbgNV1zyo&t=749s (青春奔赴), as was the Regular Worker + Economic Development one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkVbgNV1zyo&t=1046s (伟业). But I figured I should put them here for posterity. I counted 4 whole free trade zones.
There wasn't an Ethnic Minorities Dance!! I'm confused. I guess they're just integrating said minorities into other songs, etc? What does this say about diversity in China?
*
Happy New Year! makes a note of these songs
Re: *
Thanks! I just updated the links so they should now work! (China took down the old video)