Adventures in Kunming and Beijing:): Kunming Part 7: Hanyu Qiao Bisai (cont'd)

Hanyu Qiao Bisai (Part II):

The Hanyu Qiao Competition consists of 4 parts: group presentation, introduction, talent, and then questions and answers. The group presentation is performed at a separate time from the other 3 parts, which are all performed during the individual contestant’s presentation slot. So there would be a group presentation, then like five people doing their individual portion, and then another group presentation, and then another five, and so on. I wasn’t actually worried about the group presentation, the introduction, or the talent sections. I knew that as long as I memorized my skit lines for the group presentation and my script for my introduction (talking about myself for 1 minute), I would be able to speak the Chinese pretty well. And I’m a decent singer and guitar player (my talent was to sing a Chinese song and play the guitar), so if I just practiced that a bit there would be no problem. It was the QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS that I was worried about. I didn’t want much…I just wanted to be able to understand what was asked so that I could come up with some sort of answer and not embarrass myself.

Up until the night before the presentation, I was nervous like crazy. I felt like my hair was going to turn white from being so scared, haha. But the night of the competition, I felt strangely at peace. It was really weird; I just felt like it was all going to be okay. So, I was waiting outside the doors to enter the room and get on the stage, and though everyone was flying around frantically trying to make sure everything was set up properly, I shut all that out and just took a few deep breaths. Then I went on the stage, smiled at the audience, and did my thing. It was nice, my voice didn’t shake, I was at ease, and it just kind of felt like an out of body experience (but then again, it always feels like that when I’m on the stage, because being outgoing and having everyone stare at me is not something I particularly like in my normal nature…I’m kind of shy-ish when not doing some sort of performance). I said my 1-minute introduction, performed my song, and then…THE QUESTIONS. Each person received 2 questions. Everybody, native Chinese and foreigners alike, said the questions were hard and they were right. They were about Chinese culture, geography, tradition, society, and sayings. Most people did not get any of their answers correct, very few got only 1 right, and only one person got both answers right. I got one of the answers right, though I didn’t know it while on the stage. From what they were saying, I thought I got both of them wrong, but then when I got off the stage my teacher came over to me congratulating me because I got one of them right. I was like, wow, I got one right! Yay!

Anyway, the competition continued on, but I didn’t see most of it because I was backstage. Most of the people afterwards just went home, but I was like, “Well, I want to stay to see who wins!” So I stayed until the end of the competition, which was a few hours later, and then the results were announced. In all honesty, most of the results I didn’t understand at all. I understood who got best group performance and such, but then a bunch of individual awards were announced which I didn’t understand at all. I did, however, understand who got first place. I didn’t even need to speak Chinese to understand it, because the reaction of the people around me and the winner was crystal clear. It was this guy from Pakistan who was definitely a shoo-in to win. He was the best out there and it was he who got both questions right.

But I continued to watch the results from “backstage” and…what do you think? The next thing I know is I’m hearing my Chinese name being called up alongside this other guy from Thailand who also was VERY good. His talent was one of the best and his Chinese was amazing...and I knew my talent performance wasn’t bad as well…so I thought maybe I was getting called up for best talent performance. I looked around at everyone and they were like, “Get on up there!” I was there thinking, “well, at least I won something…that’s nice.” And then some people standing up there gave us our prizes, and then some teacher came up and stood in the middle of us and we posed for a few pictures. I was nervous and a little confused as to why I was up there, so I’m pretty sure I gave a half-smile for the pictures. But you know, I was happy to at least have one something. Okay…not going to lie, I was a little disappointed about getting “best talent” because I could have done that with my eyes closed. I have a lot of singing experience already and I felt like it wasn’t something I had to work hard towards and earn. So I was kind of like, “Ugh, don’t take pictures of me…I’m not a winner, I didn’t work hard to get this. This hardly has anything to do with speaking Chinese…” (even though the song was in Chinese).

I got off the stage and people kept saying “congratulations!!” and I’m there giving them a polite smile saying, “Thank you! Thank you!” but deep down inside feeling like, “Ugh, don’t say congratulations, I didn’t DO anything to deserve this. This competition is about my skill in speaking Chinese not in singing songs.” So even though it was nice to get my name called up and to get a nice prize, to me it felt a little embarrassing as well…and all in all I really wasn’t quite certain what it was that I won…the talent thing was only a guess.

So I walked back from the performance building with Linda, my Jamaican Chinese friend, and she said to me “Congratulations!” And then I confessed to her, “Thank you, but I don’t even know what I’ve won!” She said, “You took second place.” I didn’t understand and I said, “Second place what?” I thought maybe she was talking about second place in terms of talent, which made sense to me. She said, “Second place overall.” I was like, “Um, no I didn’t….seriously?” She was like, “Yeah! You tied with the Thai guy. He’s actually the student leader of my class! Congratulations!” I didn’t believe it. I seriously didn’t believe it. No I mean LITERALLY didn’t believe it. I thought maybe there was a mistake, that she heard wrong. But how could she have heard wrong? This girl has lived in China for two years, she was a graduate student at the college, writing 30 page essays in Chinese and other tough stuff. She wouldn’t have just heard wrong. But still I didn’t believe her. Why? Because most of the people in the competition were students at her level of Chinese: graduate students or students of the highest level of undergraduate Chinese. These people had been in China for a few years. I couldn’t understand half of what they were saying. And Linda was trying to tell me that I beat all of these students, including her, except for two of them, one of which I tied with? Not possible. Of course I didn’t believe her. In fact, I didn’t believe it until I looked for the teacher running the competition when she was available two days later. She showed me the results and bam, there was my name at the second slot of the list in line with the kid from Thailand. I was like, whoa. I freaking won.

The competition had a second round to it, which was broadcasted by CCTV (China Central Television). I don’t know who it broadcasted to, but I just hope it didn’t broadcast to all of China. I’m thinking it was a local CCTV version, so only Kunming could see it. But nonetheless, I was on TV. In China. I’d never even been on TV in America. This competition was slightly different, kind of like those America’s Got Talent/Britain’s Got Talent shows were there were three judges, and if they liked us, they each gave us stars. If you got three stars you won for sure. If you got two stars, you moved on to a final round. If you got one star or less, you were done. I do believe that this show was more like a TV show, because it did seem a bit biased. Even the guy from Pakistan who won last time did not win again, and I think many agreed that he deserved to win. But hey, that’s TV for you, no matter what country you’re in…it’s all for ratings. I didn’t win this competition, of course, but I was one of the few to make to the final round though, and I can say that I’m satisfied with that. I wouldn’t have wanted to go to Beijing…these competitions had been going on (meetings, rehearsals, etc.) for over a month, maybe two, and it was draining the energy from me. And I remember one day being called over for a brief rehearsal, but arriving only to find a big CCTV camera there ready to record us performing songs and giving us interviews. It was frightening and embarrassing, but though I’m glad it’s over, to be perfectly honest I’m so glad it happened.

These are things I’d never dreamed I’d be saying I’d accomplished. And I have something to bring back to America to show for it, something more than a souvenir. I’ve got a certificate for my second place, a reminder and a representation of hard work and determination, not just a certificate representing a talent. Every time I look at it, I still think “Wow. I can’t believe that just happened.” It’s amazing, the idea that I didn’t just study in China, I accomplished something in China, I’ve left a sort of impact, putting my name in the records of people who won this competition, at least one of them. Wow. SMH.

But that was only the beginning.

Pics (sorry for the blurriness, a friend was talking the pictures and was not used to the camera):

These are the two hosts of the competition, the girl is Chinese, the guy is British. I believe they are announcing me on to the stage in this picture.

Ooo, yeah, this is tough to see I know. I’m saying my introduction here.

A wider view, with the audience in sight.

Getting set up for my talent performance. That pink thing in my hair is the flower my little sister Beverley gave me for Christmas…Beverley, I hope you’re reading this!

It took a moment to get set up. But that gave me some time to calm my nerves and get my head ready for my talent performance.

There I be singing. The song was called “随梦而飞” (sui meng er fei), which means “Flying along with the Dream”. It was the theme song from the Chinese movie “江山美人”or in English “An Empress and the Warriors”.