A casual survey suggests that 98 percent of Sinica listeners have at some point joined Chinese friends or family in watching the annual television spectacular known as the Spring Festival Gala. Sadly, whether from excessive pork consumption or the mildly sedative effects of baijiu, the same percentage report occasional difficulties making it through the entire show....That's excuse enough for Sinica to take a look back this week, asking not only whether this year's show was any good, but how we think the show will last and what its change in direction this year under filmmaker Feng Xiaogang tells us about the priorities of the new administration. Joining Kaiser for this discussion is Alice Xin Liu from the Chinese translation magazine Pathlight as well as David Moser, who shares insider knowledge of how the gala works gleaned from a previous appearance on the show.Enjoy Sinica? If you'd like to download the show without playing it through our on-site player, please feel free to grab the standalone mp3 file. You can also use any RSS feed reader to subscribe to this podcast and get updates automatically: just use our dedicated feed which can be found on http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica here at Popup Chinese.
Sinica
said on February 14, 2014
Mentions1. Director Feng Xiaogang / 冯小刚 (page at Wikipedia)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_Xiaogang2. Actor Xiao Shenyang / 小沈阳 (page at Wikipedia)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiaoshenyang3. Pathlight Autumn 2013 (Kindle edition)http://www.amazon.com/Pathlight-Autumn-2013-Zhanjun-Shi-ebook/dp/B00HSLGGSE/ref=sr_1_44. Xiangsheng / 相声, or crosstalk (page at Wikipedia)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangsheng5. Video of the 1999 Spring Festival Gala skit 《同喜同乐》(Tongxi Tongle)http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTE4NzkxNzI=.html6. Term: 审查 shencha - to censor; censorship7. Term: 秧歌 yangge - a type of public synchronized dancing popular among older women on the mainland8. Author, director and actor Wang Shuo / 王朔 (page at Wikipedia)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Shuo9. Term: 痞子文学 Pizi Wenxue - “hooligan literature”, a sub-genre mainly of Wang Shuo’s making that focuses on the lives of quick-talking, marginalized children from aristocratic backgrounds in the years after the Cultural Revolution10. Feng Xiaogang’s filmography (page at Wikipedia)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_Xiaogang#As_director11. Term: 贺岁片 hesui pian - a sub-genre of feel-good comedy films set during Lunar New Year12. Song name: 倍儿爽 bei’er shuang (“Mighty Fine”) by Da Zhangwei 大张伟 13. Festival gala upgraded to "national project" status at China Daily (mentions China Youth Daily poll)http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-01/28/content_17263331.htm14. Term: 堵上(嘴) dushang (zui) - to gag / shut up15. Actor Huang Bo / 黄渤 (page at Wikipedia)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huang_Bo16. Term: 接地气 jiediqi - down to earth17. Term: 小康社会 xiaokang shehui - moderately prosperous society18. The ballet Red Detachment of Women / 红色娘子军 (page at Wikipedia)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Detachment_of_Women_(ballet)19. Term: 劲(儿) jin(‘r) - vigor, energy, spirit20. Term: 方言 fangyan - No direct English translation--or even a fixed Chinese definition--exists for this term. Attempts at approximating the term in English include “regionalect” and “topolect”. It is often incorrectly translated as “dialect”.21. Term: 仙女 xiannv - fairy22. Term: 哥们(儿) gemen(‘r) - brother/“bro”23. The Taiwanese band S.H.E (page at Wikipedia)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.H.ERecommendationsAlice:24. An Undercover Story: If you are the one by Coco Ma for Asian Creative Transformationshttp://www.creativetransformations.asia/2014/02/an-undercover-story-if-you-are-the-one/25. The novel Taipei, by Tao Lin / 林韜http://www.amazon.com/Taipei-Tao-Lin/dp/2846267863/ref=sr_1_2David:26. Chinese History: A New Manual by Endymion Wilkinsonhttp://www.amazon.com/Chinese-History-Harvard-Yenching-Institute-Monograph/dp/0674067150/ref=sr_1_1Kaiser:27. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane by S. Frederick Starrhttp://www.amazon.com/Lost-Enlightenment-Central-Conquest-Tamerlane-ebook/dp/B00F8MIJMQ/ref=sr_1_1
华金
said on February 16, 2014
Yet another great episode! A bit like Alice, this was the first time I actually made a point of watching it attentively, as opposed to just having it on in the background during the 团年.Funnily enough, the skit I enjoyed the most was also the one about the young guy with the bicycle and the elderly lady. I was also chuckling when you started talking about the ventriloquist who kept moving his mouth quite conspicuously the whole time! I thought exactly the same thing (surely the one requisite skille for being a ventriloquist is being able to keep your mouth still!). That said, I actually really did enjoy the skit itself. I was mortified for the audience member, but I was laughing hard at the same time.On a side note, I followed up Alice's recommendation concerning the article on 非诚勿扰 because my girlfriend introduced it to me recently after I decided to watch more Chinese TV to improve my Mandarin. I just have a bit of a gossipy question for anyone who read the article and has watched the show. When the author wrote about the crew arranging for a man to to leave with a contestant who wouldn't leave for the show for a year, do you think she was referring 盼盼 (the rather large, talkative one)？I thought it was bizzare how she starting crying in the end and that her explanation for it didn't seem genuine to me. I know, I know. Ridiculous question on my part, but I'm sure my girlfriend *cough cough* would love to find out! ;-)
uhuhuisadi
said on February 18, 2014
@Kaiser Cool Story Bro
kenner116
said on February 22, 2014
The standalone mp3 link has a typo. Here is the correct link: http://popupchinese.com/data/1352/sinica-dissecting-the-2014-spring-festival-gala.mp3
