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Performing in China: Confessions ofa White Monkey

DECEMBER 16, 2011 52 COMMENTS

In China, the image of white skin still pays dividends. Especially dancing white people.

Promoters for real estate opening parties spend tens of thousands of RMB to set the stage forpotential homeowners. Magicians and mini-skirt wearing violin players are commonplace, butnone earn even close as much as the coveted Anglo-Saxon musician/clown. The “WhiteMonkey,” as some call the foreign performer, is the ultimate showpiece for any GrandOpening, be it for a multi-billion RMB high-tech zone or an apartment villa in the cabbage-picking boondocks.

Paid in FullI’ll never forget my first “laowai” gig in the fall of 2008.

At that time I was a senior college student in a foreign study abroad program. Money was tight,I had an English teaching job in Wenjiang every Thursday (5 classes back to back) and two ofthe classes consisted of 45 screaming kindergarteners, who could barely speak Chinese letalone learn basic English words.

The gig was an anniversary party for the Great Wall Wine company at the InterContinentalHotel. If you could bottle wealth, I could have made a fortune from selling the air. Thechandeliered lobby featured a seafood buffet and bottomless bottles of liquor served byscantily clad models. I remember not having a white collared shirt, so my agent provided a frillydisco-esque shirt and a pair of black leather shoes several sizes too small.

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Born to RockThere were four musicians altogether:

A trumpet player from Singapore

American saxophone player

Canadian guitarist, and

Myself on bass guitar

None of us had ever practiced or rehearsed songs together. Naturally I was a bit nervousabout embarking on such a half-assed endeavor in this classy venue.

“So we are playing Autumn Leaves, What a Wonderful World, a Paul Simon tune, all easystuff.” The trumpet player instructed confidently.

“Oh, I played Autumn Leaves in college jazz combo, it’s like E minor, A minor, F# B7 etc.” Ireplied.

“Yeah well we have backing tracks so don’t worry too much.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know an mp3 without words, it’s like a sing-along” He replied, smiling and pulling back hisponytail.

I watched the lobby fill with bespectacled, balding Chinese men accompanied by women 20years their junior.

The gig itself was painless, within a few bars of each song I figured out the general chordpattern and plunked out a bassline, which was muted by the overpowering backing track. Aftereach two song “set” the crowd applauded and soon we were approached by tall girls in qipaos(traditional Chinese skirts) asking,

“Shuai ge, keyi pai zhao ma? “(Hey handsome, can we take a picture?)

Posing for photos, I felt like an instant celebrity in a pre-packaged Ren & Stimpy kind of way. Ifyou wanted Rock-star-in-a–can this was the place for it. In this industry one’s musical skill is



not determined by their chops but rather if your cable can reach the soundboard some 20meters away from the stage.

Admittedly, the first couple “gigs” were exciting and new, but the novelty of the White MonkeyGig wears off quickly when one sees the sociological forces behind the whole fiasco.

Some people actually make a career out of this…

Class, Class, ClassHistorically speaking, entertainers in China are typically members of the lower class. I’m sureyou’ve seen a movie or three in which an underprivileged street kid joins a traveling theatertroupe either to rise through the ranks or to be dealt a cruel dish of reality. Same goes formodern day performers, many with high hopes get stuck in the net of mediocrity.

Dream of becoming a famous cellist or classical musician? I hope you look hot in a mini-skirtand can play a techno version of the can-can on the violin.

Dream of leading a R&B group or jazz band on saxophone? Sorry buddy, only Kenny G coversare allowed.

By and large, musicians and entertainers bastardize their skills to get paid performing at GrandOpenings around China. I’ve met dancers and musicians of extraordinary skill who are forcedto conform to the cookie-cutter line-ups at these Openings. They go like this:

First, the Water Drum girls followed by a foreigner band and then a magician

Announcement, ceremony and then the saxophone guy

Foreigner band Take Two, followed by hot girl with a violin

Ending with angry looking models waiting to step back into Boss Wang’s BMW. Applausefrom the peasant masses or upper crust bosses

End show

Racism and The Hunt



The MCs and agents are actuallyunscrupulous pimps that will sometimes holdoff paying you until:

1. you give up

2. accept less than previously agreed upon

3. get intimidated into paying up in full

The phone call. (translated from Chinese)

“Hello Wei Lai we have a show on the 25th”

“I think I’m free, what time and where?”

“Sunday evening in Deyang. *(note location is likely to be 1-2 hours outside of whatever city isnamed)

“There are no Blacks or Chinese in your band?”

“No… why?”

“Oh nothing, who’s singing?”

“A girl from Spain, I think you’ve seen here before.’

“Oh right the skinny one”.

“Yeah,… ok so what’s the payment?”

“1200 RMB for two sets of 3 songs.”

“Sounds good, see you then.”

No blacks, no Chinese? What the hell? What if I was an American born Chinese that onlyknew how to say ni hao?

Anyone who looks remotely Asian wouldn’t be approached for these jobs. A white guy whoonly knows power chords would be picked for a gig over a guitar virtuoso with an Asian face.



Performers backstage at the gig waiting between shows

These days agents are a bit more opened minded about people with dark skin, however theyare looking for a certain kind of dark-skinned musician; one with excellent music skills, goodattitude and doesn’t seem “too African.” And sometimes they’re looking for the “Too African”stereotype.

Have Fun With ItA good friend of mine wrote a rock song about Sichuan Shao Kao (street barbeque), entitled“Basi De Hen” (Sichuan dialect for “Super cool”) which he performed regularly in 2009 at a barin Jinli Street.

The chorus went:

Zui hao chi zui hao wan, shao kao ni shi wo de ai ren (“The most delicious, the mostfun. BBQ you are my true love“)

I played this song with him for a crowd of 10,000+ in a suburb of Chongqing and had the placeroaring. The peasants jumped the barrier and reclaimed the seats cordoned off for” VIP”guests. The lethargic security weren’t able to control the mayhem. Fireworks went off on stage,fog machines belched smoke and soap bubbles. It was rock and roll, baby.



If the setting is right, the audience will get into the music, especially the Chinese songs.Recently some friends and I performed a rendition of “Chun Tian Li” at a banquet dinner for amedical supplies conglomerate at a Chengdu hotel. The whole place was singing along,toasting baijiu glasses in the air and swaying their heads to the thumping E string on thechorus. The vibe continued throughout our bluegrass and funk tunes and we were asked for anencore. Perhaps there is room for baijiu banquet rock stars, after all.

Gotta Pay the BillsMy roommate, a Spanish-speaking university student about to graduate from SichuanUniversity said,

I can’t teach English and there are few opportunities for Spanish-teaching jobs. Howelse can I pay for rent? I’m forced to be an actor!

A good friend of mine and guitar player from Japan proclaims,

We’d never have these “Laowai gigs” in Japan. The people would just laugh at you.Why do the Chinese spend so much money on bad entertainment? Only professionalmusicians have performances in Japan.

Although I hate the system, it’s got me under its thumb. I sold out.



Teaching English inChengdu

How I Built MyChengduCompound

The China Dream:In English

Living inQingcheng: DigitalNomad in aChinese Mountain...

Alas, for now these types of jobs are my most lucrative income; the US stock market sunk, Igraduated in 2009 into a jobless economy. I’ve worked in China for 2 years, as strugglingwriter and editor who will try anything aside from teaching English to make ends meet.

I try to justify doing these gigs by knowing that I’ll save money and use my experience in Chinato eventually work on environmental law and policy consulting in Asia.

For example, last year I saved up money up money from White Monkey jobs in hopes of doingindependent media reporting at the G20 summit in Seoul. Unfortunately, my passport wasstolen, so the trip was canceled, and using the refunded money I got a huge tattoo instead.

What say you? Are White Monkeys justified? Are they sell-outs? Let us know what you think inthe comments below.

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About EliasElias is an American writer and activist currently located in Chengdu. In hisfree time he enjoys cycling, international politics and excessive lajiaoconsumption.View all posts by Elias →

Anonymous ReplyDecember 16, 2011 at 3:35 am

Sascha ReplyDecember 16, 2011 at 10:45 am

Anonymous ReplyDecember 17, 2011 at 5:53 am

52 Responses to “Performing in China: Confessions of a White Monkey”

Boohoo, laowai.

That’s cold blooded anon. Performers have it rough out here!

That was me. Yes but this man is complaining about his situationand dramatizing everything he has experienced. He is not talentednor is he very intelligent from what I’ve gathered from his rant.

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Sascha ReplyDecember 17, 2011 at 12:29 pm

Charlie ReplyDecember 16, 2011 at 11:17 am

3li4s ReplyDecember 16, 2011 at 1:08 pm

Which was offensive in many ways by the way.

i was tongue in cheek with my “rough out here” comment.

I think there are other ways to look at the foreign performerphenom put here. So many examples … Da Shan and JiangNan fall into one category, my man Captain Morgan and BigTenz fall into another … fake bands into yet another … Djs(Shadow and Krush anyone) into yet another … I think it couldbe interesting to explore.

Maybe show some historical examples, if they exist, offoreigners performing abroad for the mere reason that theyare foreign. German polka bands in Africa? Native Americancircus in Europe? Indian floating sages in Babylon? Chineseoperettas in the WIld West? At first glance it seems that EastAsia likes the foreign circus a little more than we might in theWest … but anyone seen an “ethnic performance” in the USrecently? World music anyone?

This is definitely a fair analysis. Good post, Elias.

I’ve done many, many gigs like this although it seems that white monkeyDJs tend to have it marginally better off than band members. No backingtrack.

About a year ago I had a gig in Chongqing at the opening of an outdoormall and they had a laowai band perform as well. Before their set theywere hyping up the crowd in English (“Are you ready??!”) and when theystarted playing it didn’t look right. Everything appeared out of sync. It tookabout a minute for me to confirm that not only were none of theirinstruments amped (except for the singer on the microphone), but theyweren’t even musicians. Guitar player holding his instrument all goofy andclearly not know how to play, keyboard player mashing keys randomly,etc.

I was just standing there incredulously while a crowd of Chinese peopleclapped. It was hard for me to believe that hundreds of people werestaring RIGHT AT THEM and couldn’t decipher what was going on, butthat was apparently the case. That was the only time I’ve seen a foreignband outright fake their entire performance though.

Bueno. I didn’t think so many of the “J&B Cowboy” Shots would be on thepost. But they the only ones professionally shot and they really capturesthe essence of the degrading antics on behalf of both performers and theaudience.

As the article mentions, I am a bass player, never-have-I-ever nor did Iplan on signing for a crowded barroom. Yet things changed quickly back in2009 when I had to learn a rendition of “Mambo Number 5” don a cowboyhat, bandana ( I wore a Zapatista knit scarf for a class mockery) and serve



http://www.justcharlie.com/


http://www.iseastars.org/




Brendan ReplyDecember 16, 2011 at 4:58 pm

Cherry ReplyDecember 17, 2011 at 3:05 pm

tigerkuma ReplyDecember 16, 2011 at 6:10 pm



as Emcee for a night of debauchery.

Anyhow I’m interested in using this as a “jumping off” point for furtherdiscussion on sociological issues raised in this piece.

Update: Haven’t done any music gigs since the summer, but 2 weeks agoI was flown to Xian to be a “Wine expert” from Spain, no wait, theychanged it on me last minute,

“You can be French today right Wei Lai?”

I know anything goes here, and it’s usually (always) crass before class,but I’m still amazed at how people just eat the p** poor entertainment onoffer right up. And how much return on the Yuan is all this generatinganyway? Tens if not hundreds of thousands of RMB dropped on hokey‘entertainment’, or real French/Spanish/Whitey endorsement, attended byboat loads of freeloaders!

Sign me up!!

Dude – get a grip. I am sure you are doing the best you can with yourskill set and attributes. I have done a lot of promo gigs. You havewritten in blogs. Both possibly are below our stations. I have beenplaying for 40 years. Forcing our lofty lowai tastes on a culture thathas is recovering from onw of the worst eras in modern times ispointless. The market decides. Kitch is fine for those who appreciate it.

Guys, the opening of Lan Kwai Fong took White Monkeyism to newheights. The free drinks were appreciated, super models were inabundance, but my feeling at the end of the night was that it was all justvery, very sad…

When I read these types of critiques about the imperfections of cultures influx, I invariably reflect on the authors. As is usually the case, we revileagainst others with characteristics we find most uncomfortable inourselves. The question becomes: Are we living up to our own potentialsand aspirations? Or should we just have another beer, qet ready for ourown important jobs, and lob gobs of ridicule on others with lower callingsthan ours? If you don’t like the band, storm the stage and do somethngbetter. If you can do that, then do it, and you won’t have to go “teach”those brats tomorrow. And stay on that career path, white shirt or not.













So Cherry, you subscribe to the belief that anything lame in anotherculture cannot be ridiculed or criticized? I thought the article did agood job of detailing how ridiculously stupid this stuff is, while alsohaving a sense of humour and saying LOOK HOW ABSURD WE,THE WHITE MONKEYS ARE. Cherry, you coulda saved yourselfsome time by just typing LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT. That kinda ends anydiscussion, doesn’t it?

In other words-check yourself. What bothers you about this kitch,are your own failings. My observations, after 3 years in China, arethat the lowai population is culled from “party schools” from allover the planet. And not from the top of the class. They may havereached their level of competency, and this includes performers ofall stripes. So party on. But for many, this will be their best efforts.

the whole foreign performer thing just puts everyone in contact withthe most superficial and degrading parts of society in general: greed,duplicity, disdain, indifference

I have two friends who were able to transcend that (at least to myoutside observer eye) by treating even the most demeaningenvironment into a performance that made the shallow pigs that “rule”most clubs and discos behave themselves out of shame.

basically being real and caring deeply about the performance shamedshallow humans into clapping and being civilized while deeperindividuals took inspiration away with them. I have seen that happen atthe most ridiculous shows here.

YOU were sad.

Did you actually read and understand what I wrote in the abovecomment?

It stated that shallow performances can still lead to inspiration.

That doesn’t make ME sad.

i see. you weren’t replying to me.














cherry ReplyDecember 17, 2011 at 7:27 pm

Charlie ReplyDecember 17, 2011 at 11:32 pm

Marco ReplyNovember 19, 2015 at 10:42 am

/whistles/walks away

I see the author of the piece, is just slumming in entertainment to“eventually work on environmental law and policy consulting in Asia.” MayI ask what law school he went to? Or did he teach himself law, whileteaching himself the bass? What is he better at, complex legal issues ormusic theory?

Cherrz

Friend Cherry, i think you logged into the wrong forum. The OTHERChengdu forum is the one for insults. Relax friend. No point getting all hotand flustered. Try decaf…..

My questions stand. Being critical is fine, but ridicule oversteps thepoint. Decaff – Never have – never will.

There are some good parts of being a foreign performer: travel aroundChina, meet new people, make good money etc. For years I was travelingto different places almost every weekend. It got old, but many of thosetrips rank among my best memories of being in China.

Sascha and I actually met through what was basically a monkey gig, Ithink in 2006 right? He was the contact for Coors who was organizing atour of China featuring VJs and dancers which I got brought into byTenzin.

It used to be so much of a bigger industry compared to now. Now it’smostly real estate gigs with bands from what I understand. It used to beclub gigs all over China. Clubs were desperate for foreign dancers, DJs,MCs etc 5 years ago. That has changed a bit.

For me, it was a fun thing to do for a few years, to travel around thecountry while I was learning Chinese and get paid for working a few hoursper night. Lots of good memories and stories.

hey man, I hope you will read this after all these years lol. I’m










Charlie ReplyNovember 19, 2015 at 11:48 am

Mel ReplyDecember 18, 2011 at 4:57 am


interested into Dj-ing across Asia, could you please give me someinfos? who could I contact? thanks

It’s much more difficult now than it was 5+ years ago: there’s littleinterest in musicianship and there are tons of Russians andUkrainians performing in China which undercut most DJs fromEurope or the States. Feel free to get in touch though,chengduliving at gmail.

Homework: Who invented “being white” as the “perfect ideal” world wide?Why do people in China consider white people as pretty? Where do thecategories “white, black, asian…” come from? Who invented them?Also, maybe you are discriminated against sometimes, but being actuallyracist towards others includes having the power to do so. You are a whitemale from the West. You have pretty much every privilege people on thisplanet can have. Do the people in China you accuse of Racism have thosesame privileges? I strongly doubt that.

Oh, and just to be clear: I’m white myself and lived in China for quite awhile.

First off I’m glad to see this is sparking controversy and critique.

Cherry’s initial comment was well-phrased and touches upon people notliving up to their true potential. This is something everyone faces and it isimportant for all of us to continuously raise the bar on our goals andexpectations.

I see many people falling into the “China Trap” cutting corners on theirhopes and ambitions in order to live a carefree and comfortable lifestyle.This is the essence of the “White Monkey” job. Image is everything andSkills are secondary.

I think there are people better qualified to write on this subject consideringthe fact that NO this is Not my JOB. I work for a CSR (Corporate SocialResponsibility) consulting firm sponsored by a Hong Kong company.

So what’s next? I need to post my résumé in order to prove that I’m notjust an American from a party school thats fallen into the “China Trap”.

Ask Sasha, my initial article was focused more on the and academicpoints of this sociological sham. He told me straight up to pick thepersonal observation or academic route for this thing and not to “straddlethe fence”. So here you have it, a personal observation just like one fromthousands of other foreigners with “China blogs”.

Rachel Dewoskin touched on the concept of white monkeyism (with moreflair) in her book “Foreign Babes in Beijing” where she was a star actressin a Chinese Soap.

But she went to Columbia so I suppose you don’t have a problem withher?








Joy ReplyDecember 18, 2011 at 5:14 pm



Sascha December 18, 2011 at 6:06 pm


Trolling my bass playing or aspirations to work on creating holisticsolutions to contemporary environmental problems is pretty sophomoric,Cherry.

Thumbs up!

i wasn’t planning on making the editorial process public, but ifanyone wants to read the original and see the changes made, feelfree to pm me o.O

Sascha knøwz how to edit g00d ;P

It was best for this piece to be based on personal reflectionrather than trying to go the “ivory tower” route with footnotes,Foucault and filler…

As for the “race” card. The point of this is that I’m fed up withthe “white makes right mentality” that I see played out somuch in China. It is western imperialism that made all thesecookie-cutter categories.

I’m a privileged white male, there is no way to change mybackground or my appearance. I’m reminded of this everydayI spend in China. I hope that this fallacy of fashion anddeception that is the “White Monkey” job is a short livedphenomenon. But as the conclusion states, I’ll take moneynow again from “The system” and use it to fund counter-culture elements of my life. If I wanted a guilt-free lifestyle thatcoincided with all my political ideals I’d have to drop out ofsociety, join a co-op farm surrounded with people who thinklike me, eat like me and perhaps even smell like me. I’ll takeadversity instead.

yup.

A few of my Chinese friends have read this and they think it’s hilarious thatwe can call ourselves “white monkeys”.(the author would like to disclose that in the past he has been a “dancingmonkey”, and was handsomely compensated). When you can’t laugh, it’stime to leave…(WHITE MONKEY T-SHIRTS AVAILABLE SOON. S-XXXL. FREESHIPPING!)










James ReplyDecember 19, 2011 at 10:19 am

Tabitha ReplyDecember 20, 2011 at 2:34 pm

James ReplyDecember 20, 2011 at 3:08 pm


Bryan ReplyDecember 21, 2011 at 12:43 am

While the outlook appears to be grim for the talented in China, it looks likethe demand for untalented musicians is booming. So in some ways, it’snot all bad- there is always someone that benefits.

Cheers Elias for pointing out the flawed perception of these performances.I’ve never sung in a hotel but I’ve been cowed into singing “Skater Boy” foran audience of 7,000 on local television. The word “tokenism” is usuallyassociated with oppressed or under-represented cultures so it’s interestingto see it turned on white upper-middle-class culture in general and stillhave the safe stifling effect on creativity and freedom of expression. If weare to talk about living up to our own standards though, personalgratification is the way to measure it- are you satisfied by your role in theseshowcases, or left wanting? However I’d be careful about drawing aconnection between your career and academic goals and any justificationof what you’re doing in China for money-there are other ways to getfunding, including grants and scholarships that don’t require you to dawn afrilly costume and dance around like a tool.

Here here, Tabitha. More grants, less tools. Damn, that was well put.

Agreed. More grants! I haven’t tooled around in quite some time, but withxmas approaching I know people who are making upwards of 10,000RMBin this month alone. As James points out there is a demand for unskilledmusicians. Contrary to what Cherry might think I’m not one of them. I knowa handful of highly skilled musicians in the band called “Red Water” who,pardon the pun, water down their talent to appeal to their clients.

And yes Tabitha by no means am I going to fund graduate school bymaking an extra 1000RMB every two or three months. Honestly, some ofthe gigs were rewarding, like playing real live country music on top of theconstruction site near Computer City for an audience that included theMayor of the Chengdu.

Yet often times you leave a gig feeling like you either got violated or youviolated someone else. By in large the whole fiasco is very whorish, and Ithink most other “White Monkeys” would agree.

I totally agree with everything you’ve stated here. I’ve done a hundred,at least, of these things since I fist moved to China 2 and a half yearsago. But I’ll keep doing them, because it’s easy money and it’s good









Ricardo ReplyMarch 25, 2016 at 9:20 pm


Elvis ReplyDecember 26, 2011 at 5:18 pm

Justin ReplyDecember 26, 2011 at 5:07 pm

supplemental income. I know people who have successful businesseshere who do this on the side for fun and extra money. If there’s amarket for it, just do it if you’re fortunate enough to be able to. I try mybest to just go with it and really have a good time, but usually I’m withpeople I know and I’ve been playing with for a while.

It’s ‘by and large’. Gotta hone dem writing skills bro, or you’ll beplaying in band 4ever.

Updates from any monkey business over the weekend?

Happy holidays

Thought you might appreciate this: I had a gig to play piano at a storeopening. Showed up there and they had a brand new grand piano, stillhad the plastic on. I did my first set and it wasn’t too bad…it was theworst piano I had ever played in my life…but when it came time for mysecond set they were blasting rap music over the loudspeakers. I satand waited for them to turn it off and they asked me why I wasn’tplaying. I said I was waiting for the music to be turned off so I couldstart…they said, “Just play.” It was clear then that my job was to beseen and not heard. People came by and took pictures, but I don’tthink anyone heard a note that I played.

I got to participate in my first white monkey gig this weekend! I was hiredto “DJ”, although very little expertise was required to do the job. I rode tothe gig with 4 other foreigners who would perform as a band. The bandwas made up of a Ukrainian singer, a Polish guitar player, a Frenchdrummer and a Russian (maybe?) keyboard player.

After I finished setting up my equipment, I was handed a USB drive andtold that I would be playing the music for the band. When I was doing mysound check, the only band member doing the same was the singer. Ilooked over to see that the keyboard had no audio out, the electric drumset was turned down to an inaudible level and there was no guitar amp. Ithought it seemed a little odd and immediately this article and the term“white monkey” came to mind.

When it was time for the band to perform the singer gave me a thumbs upand I pressed play. The singer wailed away as the other 3 band memberswere quite passionately “playing” their instruments. It seemed thedrummer and the guitar player at least knew how to play their instruments,but the keyboard player looked quite lost and continued to play during thedrum and guitar solos of tracks.

Later in the evening I witnessed more entertainment as a white couple




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Charlie ReplyDecember 26, 2011 at 5:48 pm


anonimus ReplyFebruary 8, 2012 at 5:51 pm

Paul ReplyFebruary 24, 2012 at 2:17 am

3li4s ReplyFebruary 24, 2012 at 5:55 pm

danced to tango-ish music and then a rapper came out to drop some fresh“raw-shit” to a room full of families and children.

At the end of the evening I was paid in full and had quite an entertainingtime watching all these performances go down. I can’t imagine any of thisbeing a crowd-pleaser in another country, but the Chinese guests seemedto be entertained. Maybe this kind of entertainment will fade in the future,but for now, I’ll gladly pick up these gigs for some extra loot.

I can’t believe you got to see a fake band perform on your first gig.Maybe it’s more prevalent now than a few years ago, which issurprising. I guess I had expected that with the economic developmentof Chengdu that eventually you would have real estate eventsattended by people who can decipher that someone mashing thekeyboard during a drum solo isn’t actually playing the instrument. I getthe feeling that they really cannot tell what is happening, rather thanbeing able to decipher that foreigners are in the scene more or less ashuman props. Funny that they don’t notice or think about those thingsat all.

I played over a backing track on xmas eve for some frank sinatra/ jazzyshowtunes, but it sounded okay since I was using a fretless bass andknew some of the chords.

The guy who was singing the one who really mattered (he had great voice)but the poor sap on guitar wasn’t plugged in.

It was a fancy party for the über rich of Luxehulls who were slowdancing,drinking fine wine and steak and asking me about golf in america.

I love the line: ” So you are from Boston, why didn’t you go to Harvard?’Even the cabbies are up on that.

I live in beijing. I think it sounds like a pretty fair assessment…Based onwhat I hear from friends that do/ have done performances. Don’t fully givein and keep working on the writing. I am sure there must be interestingthings and stories for you to follow or write about beyond just a blog. Whatsort of writing do you want to focus on, Journalism?

Just perform, you’re getting paid no? I think it’s fine if you’re playing aninstrument and you’ve actually put a bit of effort into learning what you’regoing to play. Otherwise, fuck it, you’re a white guy who plays bass, rareset of cards you’ve got there in Chengdu, I’d play them to the max











3li4s ReplyMay 16, 2012 at 12:34 pm

gabymagic ReplyFebruary 6, 2015 at 8:19 am

Charlie ReplyFebruary 6, 2015 at 4:14 pm

Glad to see this article still reaching fresh eyes.

@ Anonimus Yes I’m still writing, actually my preferred medium is fiction.Stay tuned for the drop of my national bestseller

@Paul Actually my set of cards aren’t too rare, I’d say there are is a poolof around 50 monkeys that keep business thriving out here inChendgu/Chongqing. I have an office job, but as stated, take these fromtime to time to supplement my LOW income.

Related reading: Wanna sell something in China? Hire a white guy”

http://behindthewall.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/07/06/7026868-wanna-sell-something-in-china-hire-a-white-guy

I’m a foreigner magician living in China for 12 years, not everyone is whitemonkey untalented performer, there are different kinds of events.The phenomenon that Elias wrote about it start when a Chinese businessman try to sale something with a status of “iinternational ” for example: Ilive on a residential neighborhood which is also name international, sowhen there’s a private party or opening sales day for these events theywould hire foreigner performers.They’re not racist, they want to link their event with the performers Image.For example during the south African world cup the black performers werevery busy while me not so much as them because I was to white.

Honestly though, most of these places don’t need highly skilledperformers: they need white people who project an image of exoticism(in most cases they have no clue what a good DJ/guitarist/magicianreally looks like). I think it is a little racist but we (caucasian expats)are the beneficiaries of this fetish that China has, so it’s hard to reallycomplain about it.

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