A few weeks ago, Minami, a classmate of mine at IUP, approached my about writing an article about the process I was going through in planning and performing Laowai Style on Chinese TV. The site she was writing for, Tea Leaf Nation, is well renowned and I go there myself for China news, so I was glad to accept.
She was particularly interested in how Chinese TV dealt with foreigners who went on TV, and whether their creativity was restricted and actions restrained to fit within the box of what is considered acceptable behavior for foreigners on TV. Namely, this behavior would include singing, dancing, and talking about how they love China and enjoy eating hot pot.
Minami came to the TV shoot we had last Sunday (blog post forthcoming when I can catch up on stuff!!!) and soon had what seemed to me to be a copious amount of notes. Then, we chatted about the TV industry and how TV could be used as a medium for getting out a message, like mine about the value of comedy towards improving US-China understanding.
The result of the article was excellent, and you can read it now live on Tea Leaf Nation’s site. A friend of mine working for a Fortune 500 company in Beijing excitedly emailed me this morning, as the article, and, therefore, myself, was mentioned in their daily news roundup of important goings-on in China.
Take a look and see what you think!
Jesse