Even National Geographic has to use a few tricks to break into the Chinese market (maybe because Chinese National Geography has so much better pictures?). The Chinese version has launched a new section featuring celebrity photography of places around the world. Actor Hu Ge (Chinese Paladin, Legend of Condor Heroes, Young Warriors of the Yang Clan), being one of the best celeb photographers around, was invited to showcase his photos during his trip to Egypt earlier this year. Other than cute pictures of his best buds, a sample of Hu Ge’s photography since going to Egypt (aka his photography this year):
People
Hu Ge-sponsored Zhangmian Hope School
Places
Modern technology versus ancient temple
People as scenery
Commercial posters plastored all over the walls of a historical door
miscellaneous
source: National Geographic China and Hu Ge’s blog
randomness. for those of you in LA, jiang Yingrong’s arriving today at noon. Flight info: http://www.ua2go.com/flifo/FlightSummar … heck=Check
OMG! I wish I could stalk her. Everyone who meets her seems to love her, and Huang Ying’s basically her fangirl4life.
And wtf, wtf, (that’s all I can say really isn’t it these days?) at the twitter post? Idol girls is actually releasing? With nine girls? With that name? And yet some part of me hopes they’re successful because there will be competition from either JYP or SM soon, and I’d love for a Chinese girl band to be the “first” unlike what happened before. eeMedia’s will be successful either way…
Hu Ge’s just awesome just in every which way. Don’t let that slip through your fingers Yang Mi!
@cfensi: I just got home from school and WOW! idol entertainment is seriously releasing with a girl group and it’s 9! great, more bashing for China. Why must the Chinese make it so obvious if they’re going to copy. stupidity!
@yelei – wow…
That statement…didn’t think you’d say that. *headdesks*
Yelei, China bashing will always be there. One company does not reflect poorly on Chinese. Not when this is only one new company amongst so many other Chinese companies. It’s like saying that guy who ripped off Big Bang represents China…he wasn’t even famous in China, and then two seconds later G-Dragon got that plagiarism charge. And even though G-Dragon is way more popular in Kpop that the other guy was in Cpop, he also doesn’t represent Kpop.
Furthermore, Sm does not have the rights to the format “nine member group” just like he was not the first to come out with five member boy groups. The boy/girl group game is formulaic.
If people bash them for their number…well, that’s ridiculous, especially since Morning Musume had that number and you shouldn’t cringe bc of one Chinese group.
Yelei…you’ve come soooo far since when you came to this site, and really you’re one of the reasons I’m glad I continued this site. Please don’t give into the ridiculous baseless anti-China sentiment.
@idarklight – Sorry for dragging idolgirls into this beautiful post. I was just sooo surprised…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDT5B3m_aWQ
>.<
Sorry I ruined your post idarklight. Maybe we should make a new one for critique of the idol groups or something. I was hoping there wasn’t going to be more in China. Except eeMedia’s girl group…which there’s 7 right? Oh man, people are probably going to call them the girl version of that Rainbow group.
@cfensi: lol. I know there’s more to the Chinese music scene, but I just hate it when people will bash even though we all know SM doesn’t have rights to 9 members group. I guess saying the word: stupidity was kind of harsh. Don’t worry, I‘m not going to turn all anti on Chinese music because I know it still has hope. Like you said, many Chinese singers were/are properly trained in music and that’s what I like about the professionalism in the music scene. It seems these days everyone can compose, write lyrics etc. I can’t wait till that day when Chinese music industry finally expands.
That guy who copied Big Bang’s song actually released a MV last week, and I totally forgot to upload it. G-dragon = genius or whatever.. that’s kind of insane. He’s not that great. I’m starting to have doubts for YG Family.
gawd i wish i were in los angeles right now
Any if you have any vids of JYR in LAX, tell me
Not much time to comment, but…
Some of the photography seems a little forcibly artsy while others lacked proper lighting and touchup, but I really liked some of them, especially that one of the temple and the woman yawning.
As for the girl group, random tangential mini-rant: Why do they all have to dye their hair? I think at least half of them would look better with natural black hair; dying gives them a strange artificial look. And the pastel palette for their outfits is kinda creepy… It’s so childish that it creeps me out, looking them.
@Neph
II dislike bleaching/dying in general for Asian hair…it makes them look strange and sickly.
I kind of like the pastel palette. It fits very well with their song, which is also very pale bubblegum pop.
aww i see anti-hair-dying in the previous posts! i have one strip of pink highlighted on the underside of my hair… personally i like it a lot, especially since the washing has faded it out to a dull violet hue. i suppose as long as the majority of my hair is still naturally colored… but natural for me is almost a noticeable brown. maybe it’s because i’m not healthy, or as my chinese relatives often say ‘i’ve stayed in america for too long’.
anyways. i just felt like commenting and so here are my comments.
1. i like hu ge’s photography. it demonstrates talent outside of simply what his profession is. although it’s no where near professionalism or top notch level, it’s definitely more than any average joe of an actor can whip up. gives me inspiration that whatever boring field i go into in the future can still provide me with time to nurture my inner love for photography and art.
2. about the 9-girl group…. okay not to be mean or anti-china or anything BUT I REALLY HATE THAT NAME!!! it seems like the companies are kind of lacking on the creative side with english names with groups like HIT-5 and all… it would have been nice if the name was just chinese. even if top combine sounds weird, at least there is a chinese name that sounds better (at least to my uneducated ears). i suppose “idol girls” are okay in terms of voices and all. it’s just a bit of a disappointment to me, personally, because i dislike any derivative of bubblegum pop and the cute concept. even if i don’t like them that much, i still hope that they will do well so that they can kick the SNSD influence out of china and start a trend that will end china’s obsession with kpop. it’s embarrassing almost how korean-wannabe so many chinese teens are acting…
now i might be wrong about this, considering how inactive i am in catching up with chinese media stuff, but it seems like chinese mainstream hasn’t seen any change for a reeeeally long time. i mean, stuff my mom thought was popular back in the day sounds exactly like the popular pop songs that are popular now. it’s nice to be consist and all, but there’s gotta be SOME kind of change at some point….
@beh
Really? I can definitely tell the difference between the older canto-influenced pop and a lot of the songs nowadays, though some songs are still generic (ie. Lao Shu Ai Da Mi). I see a lot more of the influence of rock/rnb/techno in pop. The beat is often stronger, and there’s more of a mix of pop and folk. The mix of ZGF and pop has also only recently been popularized. I mean, have you ever heard anything like Jiang Yingrong or Anson Hu in your mom’s pop songs?
I think streaks are awesome. I had a blue streak in my hair for a while. Temporary variation is okay, but most of the time, bleaching to pure blond or brown just looks strange for Asian features.
@beh…and everyone else. My time is short, but briefly…
You’re really overestimating SNSD’s popularity in China. They’re not really popular. No more so than Morning Musume. They both have like a mere 3000 fans registered in their baidu. No one danced to Gee, no one danced to Genie. There’s no influence to kick out …
Chinese fangirls aren’t in love with everything kpop – basically just TVXQ and Super Junior. And Shinwa kinda.
Chinese =/= Chinese Americans. Yeah, there’s a kpop loving crowd in China, but it’s not really as big as people think it is. Not like overseas where Chinese Americans are madly in love with Kpop because 1) they don’t even know there’s an entertainment scene in China and 2) they like western-sounds with an Asian face.
Whatever…I just think of these girls as a buffer to fill the girlband niche until the Supergirls one comes along.
@yelei
It’s weird about YG. This wasn’t the first time G-Dragon got plagiarism charges. Back in like 2007? – Big Bang had like four at once. That’s when I stopped really following him, because I had liked his stage presence before.
You know what’s interesting? All three of the top-Kpop companies have money-saving techniques on making songs:
SM – remakes, remakes, remakes!
JYP – he composes his groups songs, but isn’t prolific, so he reuses beats. Again Again was like rehashed Nobody
YG – plagiarism?
I read an article a few months ago with YG’s president explaining YG’s staff creates beats, gives them to G-dragon and he picks the ones he likes and puts beats together – that’s not composing. But it’d explain why lots of his songs have parts that sound familiar, or were accused of plagiarism, and why it’s not just G-dragon that’s been hit with plagiarism, but also 2Ne1. Maybe his staff doesn’t create those beats and just stole them.Their “compositions” are all derived from a faulty source. But then again…he shouldn’t call it his composition if that’s the case.
@beh My parents listened to this:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G73UsmmIQpI]
Hey, I bought a CNG magazine once. It was the edition on Fujian, so I figured I could learn a thing or two about where my ancestors came from.
But to think I actually went into the store looking for Snoopy merchandise…
lol i think there’s something about blondness that appeals to some asian guys… at my church there was this new girl that came who sported a completely blonde hair all long and puffy and layered and all the guys were like omg check out that girl! but then we went up close and saw her face was actually kind of very average so everyone lost interest. it’s just one of those attention-grabbing things… you’d assume anyone bold enough to do that to their hair would have a great fashion sense and have a pretty face too…
lol @ the lao shu ai da mi… i had to listen to so many different versions of that because my mom was the craziest fangirl over the song… anyways though, even though i agree there are some changes to the style and influence of the pop songs back then and now, i just feel that the changes in china aren’t significant enough to be truly recognized. maybe it’s because i’m comparing them to how fast the american (and korean? although i don’t know much about korean music before the 2000s) music scene changes.
but i was surprised to hear the jiang yingrong song that you posted a few posts back. it leans more toward the stuff i like and away from the typical type of pop that causes a sensation in china. although, there’s still something that seems off about it. i think it’s something about the actual tune of the song but it doesn’t really flow well… or maybe it’s just me and i’m going crazyyy. @_@ or possibly it has to do with the pronunciation of “everything”.
me and my parents happened to have caught the last super girl episode. i saw jiang yingrong perform and immediately decided that she was my favorite. if i remember correctly, she was dancing during her performance, whereas all the other girls just stood there, looked pretty, and sang. i think being able to dance and do other things along with singing is important, especially in a competition that pretty much produces idols. i liked her not just because her song was more interesting to me than the other girls’ but also because she seems to have the most potential to actually keep people interested on stage. her smile was very cute too. i don’t know a thing about what happened in the other episodes of the competition, but she seems to have a lot of charisma but also sweet and polite.
lol…now that we’re talking about hair dying…what do you think of Jane Zhang’s blonde hair. I really don’t like it
@Benji: are you from Fujian?
Is there like info on this 9 girl idol band? and idont think its more like SM but a lil more like SNSD because thats a 9 girl band also nd i havent really heard much about this idol band…O.o
ohh and i love the pictures!!! <3
@L
I believe yelei or julie first brought them to our attention a while ago. They’re a new company with a bunch of trainees who have been training for a year +. The company also has some male trainees.
@julie
I didn’t like Jane’s blonde hair either. = _ =
But it looks better now that it’s more of a faded brown. She’s lost a lot of weight, too, and she’s not a totally inept dancer anymore!
I’m hoping for better songs on her next album, whenever that will be. She has such a great voice, but most of her songs are disappointing. She has about three songs that I actually “like.”
@yelei
I’m not personally from Fujian, but maybe my ancestors a couple hundred years ago.
This is my “ancestral village” place (I think). Yay for Google Maps!
http://tinyurl.com/ykqwstk
@ julie
It reminded me of when Shakira tried to enter the US market and ended up dying her hair blond as well.
It made me sad that they no longer looked like themselves and angry that the producers or whoever thought this would be a good idea…
Hmm…actually I think it was mrpeng who brought up idolggirls first. But I’m not sure. Yep, i have a terrible memory.
@beh and others
SNSD – in China they’re not really that popular. No more so than Morning Musume. They only have like 3000 registered people at their tieba. Kpop’s not that popular in China, just certain groups like TVXQ, SJ, and Shinwa (for older fans). Basically any boys SM puts out.
Chinese =/= Chinese Americans. China doesn’t fall in love with everything kpop throws at them.
That’s probably why f(x) hasn’t debuted in China yet. They have to first manage a strong fanbase in Korea to be even known in China, and they haven’t got that yet.
But just in case – I still hope this group can succeed just so China’s first girlgroup is actually Chinese. Top Combine had so many haters right off the bat just because fangirls sensed they were competition. Remember when they got booed on stage? I don’t want to see that bias happen ever again. Luckily they’ve got lots of talent to back themselves up.
The pastel + the fact that they all have dyed hair makes them seem artificial though…but I like the fact that they’re bubblegum pop. It doesn’t overlap with what I imagine eeMedia’s girlgroup to be like. One of their songs totally sounded jpop.
@idarklight
I think it depends on the person. Mine was dyed before and I loved it. There’s diversity in Asian looks, so I’d imagine that some people would look good with it and some not.
Jane however – no.
Oh, and for julie:
Jiang Yingrong’s blog pics in America.
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_60a546b9 … ml#comment
She looks happy apart from the part where she’s dieting. Lol…
eeMedia really is sending their artists everywhere now.
@cfensi: so I guess I’m the only who likes Jane’s new hair. LOL