January 8, 2007
2007年1月8日
The Falun Gong Show: SFist Goes To The NTDTV Chinese New Year
觀看法輪功新年晚會有感
Guest review by M.C- of The Standing Room, with pictures by Civic Center's SFMike. N.B.: No one reviewing this concert, and no one posting the review of this concert has any affiliation with either Falun Gong or the People's Republic of China.
作者M.C. 攝影：SFMike 晚會評論者和發(fā)帖者不附屬于法輪功組織或中華人民共和國。
When we heard about the NTDTV Chinese New Year Spectacular at the Opera House this past weekend, we were absolutely certain we knew what to expect. In our tender youth, our parents dragged us to every Chinese cultural variety show that came through town -- hell, we even performed in some of them! Chinese acrobats bent over backwards with giant porcelain vases balanced on their foreheads? Been there. Lithe ribbon-dancers with zither-strumming and pipa-plucking ladies as backup? Done that. Huge-headdressed Beijing opera singers twirling their long sleeves while a guy dressed as a monkey bounces around the stage eating a peach, accompanied by hella loud gongs and a blaring shawm? Yawn, so last 500 years.
上周末聽說新唐人電視臺在歌劇廳舉辦新年晚會，我們曾毫不懷疑能夠估摸出晚會大概的樣子。在我們小的時候，父母總是拽我們?nèi)⒓又袊幕母鞣N活動，甚至我們還會參與一些表演。中國的雜技演員頂著瓷碗向后彎腰及地。至于琵琶和古琴彈奏，我們都見識過。還有濃飾重彩的京劇演員甩著長袖，扮演猴子的武生上竄下跳滿場翻飛，以及那伴著鑼鼓家伙的嘈雜聲。這些藝術(shù)都有五百年的歷史了。
But a computer-animated backdrop showing a angel flying down to Earth to rescue a dancer portraying a Falun Gong meditator being beaten senseless by Communist goons, together with a song proclaiming, "The Falun Gong is good!"?
不過我們這里看到的卻是：在電腦動畫背景下，一位天使降臨人間來拯救“被共產(chǎn)黨迫害”的法輪功練習者，還伴隨著“法輪功就是好”的歌曲。
OK, we admit it: that, we've never seen before.
是的，我們得承認：這是我們從來沒有看過的。
After the jump: how the NTDTV Chinese New Year Spectacular has nothing to do with/all to do with the Falun Gong, the ubiquity of sequins throughout 5000 years of Chinese cultural history, plus -- pictures galore!
在降臨之后，整臺晚會似乎就和法輪功毫無聯(lián)系，但又可以說息息相關(guān)，似乎它貫穿了整個中國5000年的文明歷史，外加多彩的畫面。
It turns out that the NTDTV Chinese New Year Spectacular, now in its fourth iteration and presented in close to 30 cities around the world, is utterly unlike any other Chinese performing arts event we ever expected to attend. The 2-hour program is co-sponsored by New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV), The Epoch Times, and the Sound of Hope radio network.
新唐人電視臺的這場晚會已經(jīng)是第四屆了，在全世界近30個城市巡演，和我們參加的其他中國文藝節(jié)目大為不同。晚會兩個小時的節(jié)目是由新唐人電視臺，大紀元和希望之聲電臺主辦的。
NTDTV is an "independent, nonprofit Chinese language TV broadcaster" that happens to have been founded by Falun Gong practitioners, but they go out of their way in their wording to avoid any official connection between NTDTV and Falun Gong. The Epoch Times is "the most widely distributed newspaper in the world, publishing in 40 cities across 28 countries worldwide, and in 8 languages," available for free with practically no advertisements—think about those economics for a moment—also claims no official connection with the Falun Gong but coincidentally happens to have been founded by Falun Gong practitioners. (We are reminded of the Epoch Times reporter who heckled Chinese president Hu Jintao's visit to the US last year.) The Sound of Hope radio network provides "listeners with news and programming that is both honest and objective" and is run by... you get the idea.
新唐人電視臺是一個所謂“獨立的，非贏利性的華語電視臺”，但它又恰恰是法輪功練習者創(chuàng)辦的，不過在言詞中卻盡量回避新唐人電視臺和法輪功的聯(lián)系。《大紀元》稱自己是全世界發(fā)行最廣泛的報紙，在全世界28個國家40個城市中用8種語言發(fā)行，而且不刊載任何廣告。讓我們思考一下它究竟是如何經(jīng)營的。同時它也宣稱和法輪功沒有任何聯(lián)系，只是由一些法輪功練習者創(chuàng)辦的。（這使我們聯(lián)想到《大紀元》記者騷擾訪美的中國國家主席胡錦濤的情景）。希望之聲電臺也聲稱自己為聽眾提供客觀誠實的新聞節(jié)目，不過它也是由你所知道的那些人經(jīng)營的。
Armed with this knowledge, which we only learned after the show, did we finally understand why vignette after vignette of the two-hour NTDTV Spectacular extolled the virtues of practicing Falun Gong, cursed the demonic evils of the Communist Chinese government, and promoted Truthfulness, Compassion, Patience—three pillars of Falun Gong thought.
有了這層了解（我們是事后才知道的），我們才明白為什么兩個小時晚會中，一個個節(jié)目都要贊美法輪功，而詛咒中國政府的“邪惡”，也就知道他們?yōu)槭裁匆瞥纭罢?，善，忍”，所謂法輪功的三大支柱。
Our hosts for the evening were a lovely young couple, a Caucasian man and an Asian woman, both of whom comfortably delivered intro patter in fluent English and Mandarin. We didn't catch the Asian MC's name, but we were interested to learn later that the gentleman, Leeshai Lemish, is a reporter for the Epoch Times and in 2001 was one of 35 Westerners to be arrested and beaten for meditating under a banner that said "Truthfulness, Compassion, Patience" in Tiananmen Square.
晚會的主持人是一對可愛的組合，一個白人男性，一個亞洲女性，操著熟練的英文和普通話。我們沒有弄清女士的姓名，不過后來我們發(fā)現(xiàn)那位男主持人，里塞樂米施實際上是《大紀元》的記者，他也是2001年在天安門廣場因為打出“真，善，忍”的標語而被拘留的35個西方人之一。
The grand majority of the dozens of performers were dancers whose style incorporated some gestures from traditional Chinese dance, but which was clearly based in Western ballet technique. They came from a number of schools and troupes, including the Fei Tian Dance School, which is "known for celebrating virtuous deeds [and] reverence for the divine" and the Lotus Perfoming Arts Troupe, which, coincidentally, is "committed to celebrating the values of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance."
大多數(shù)的演員是舞蹈演員，他們結(jié)合了中國傳統(tǒng)舞蹈和西方芭蕾的動作。他們來自學校和藝術(shù)團體，其中包括飛天舞蹈學校，該學校宣稱自己主張善行和敬神，還有蓮花藝術(shù)團，它的口號也是宣揚“真，善，忍”。
The dances were generally choreographed for groups. Some were inspired by Tibet and Inner Mongolia (areas that, coincidentally, have also been infamously oppressed by the Communist Chinese government); others told narratives of various characters being rewarded for their embodiment of Traditional Chinese Values, namely, piety and faith in the "divine path."
大多是集體舞蹈。有些節(jié)目受到西藏和內(nèi)蒙古地區(qū)風格的影響（這些地區(qū)也被認為受到中國政府壓迫的），有些臺詞褒揚所謂中國傳統(tǒng)文化的精髓，如忠誠，信仰“神圣之路”等。
Interestingly, SFMike pointed out that romantic love, which does feature prominently in plenty of traditional Chinese literature and theater, made not a single appearance on stage all evening. The only remotely sexy gesture was when one of the male dancers suddenly and bizarrely ripped off his shirt in front of his mother, who then tattooed four characters on his back as he gritted his teeth on a bloody rag.
有趣的是，整場節(jié)目中從頭到尾沒有一個涉及到我們熟悉的愛情，盡管愛情也是傳統(tǒng)中國文學和戲劇的主題。唯一有些牽強的涉及愛的場面是，一個男舞者突然在自己母親面前撕掉自己的襯衫，讓母親在自己背上刺下4個字，而他則緊咬著一塊滿是血跡的布條。(翻譯者：似乎指岳母刺字）
Nearly all of the music was piped in over the sound system by a prerecorded orchestra with Western instrumentation, the exceptions being live performances by a 13-year-old harpist performing a work by the 19th-century Belgian composer Félix Godefroid, three singers with Western operatic vocal technique, and an accompanist performing on a traditional Chinese Steinway 9' grand piano. (To be fair, there was also one contemporary piece written and performed by an erhu player, with piano accompaniment.) No zithers, no wild Chinese percussion, and the only pipa to be seen was a non-functioning prop covered in glitter.
配樂都是播送一些事先錄好的西樂片段，唯一的例外是一個13歲的豎琴演奏者表演了比利時作曲家費利克斯歌德富瓦的作品，有三個歌手表演了西方歌劇，另外有演奏者在施坦威鋼琴上伴奏，還有一段二胡演奏。沒有任何古琴，中國打擊樂器，雖然有一個琵琶，那是做道具用的。
In fact, aside from the Falun Gong references, the unifying characteristic of all the evening's vignettes was the overwhelming preponderance of shiny baubles: one might add "Tiaras, Rhinestones, and Sequins" to the triumvirate of values. Stage fog was also used in abundance. Like little birds we were dazzled by all the small mirrors reflecting light at us, the shiny and brightly colored costumes in constant motion, and the smoke which often obscured the dancers' feet.
實際上，除了法輪功的烙印以外，晚會最大的特點就是處處可見的閃亮小飾物，什么頭冠啊，人造鉆石啊，還有閃光亮片等等。舞臺煙霧也被大量使用。我們不斷被舞臺上反射的光線、閃閃發(fā)光的服裝和覆蓋舞臺的煙幕弄得頭暈?zāi)垦！?br>
All of which led us to think, what an ironically apt metaphor for the NTDTV Chinese New Year Spectacular. Under the glossy surface and behind the marketing fog of an event touted only as a New Year celebration of traditional Chinese culture, we actually find a 2-hour sales pitch for the Falun Gong. Though none of the ads mention the Falun Gong, when we asked New York-based SFist Mom whether she had ever heard of the Spectacular, her immediate response was, "Oh yeah, the Falun Gong show." Turns out SFist Mom and SFist Dad have been to performances three of the past four years, each time with a complimentary ticket provied by a Falun Gong member. (They add that this December's show was the most explicitly Falun-Gong-centered.)
現(xiàn)場的一切使我們想到，這真是個極具諷刺意義的比喻。在表面光鮮之下，在市場迷霧之中，晚會被描繪成中國傳統(tǒng)文化的頌歌。我們發(fā)現(xiàn)的確是對法輪功高調(diào)的叫賣。盡管每個廣告都沒有提到法輪功。但當我們問了一位母親是否聽說過那個新年晚會時，她不假思索的回答“哦，是的，不就是那場法輪功晚會嘛?！彼退煞蜻^去三年都參加了這個新年晚會，而每次都是拿著法輪功分子塞給的免費門票去看的。（他們告訴我今年的晚會是最突出地以法輪功為主題的一次。）
It should be noted, too, that the traditional Chinese culture promoted by this show is not necessarily one that is recognizable to most Chinese people; indeed, none of the songs performed—with the exception of the Kanding Love Song that MC Leeshai sang as a joke—were traditional Chinese songs that people would recognize. They were all contemporary songs written by Falun Gong practitioners. (As SFist Mom said about the show, "It's not 'culture'... but it sure is colorful!") The expression “traditional Chinese culture and values” in this context, it would seem, equates directly with Falun Gong spirituality. Somehow, it was disturbingly reminiscent of these Traditional American Values we've heard a lot about in recent years.
需要指出的是，這次晚會中所宣揚的中國傳統(tǒng)文化主題并不是大多數(shù)中國人所了解的那個傳統(tǒng)文化。事實上，除了主持人拿來逗樂用的康定情歌以外，沒有聽到任何一個傳統(tǒng)歌曲，而大多數(shù)都是法輪功練習者創(chuàng)作的現(xiàn)代歌曲。（正象有些觀眾所說的，“晚會根本不是文化，不過倒是色彩光鮮”）他們所說的中國傳統(tǒng)文化和價值倒是可以等同于法輪功教義。晚會卻讓我們聯(lián)想到一些近些年來常常聽到的傳統(tǒng)美國文化價值。
Honestly, if a movement has to lure in unsuspecting audience members via a duplicitous bait-and-switch marketing campaign, perhaps “Truthfulness” should be replaced with “Truthiness.” Likewise, we’d be surprised if the program advertisers (like the SF Opera, who took out a full-page color ad in the inside back cover) and all the politicos (like Barbara Boxer and Gov Arnold), whose letters of support appear at the front of the program, were aware that they were implicitly supporting the Falun Gong.
老實說，如果一個運動要想通過這種具有誘餌性質(zhì)的市場推銷手段來招募新成員，那么他們應(yīng)該把“真”換為“似真非真”。而且我們也奇怪地發(fā)現(xiàn)，該節(jié)目的廣告和政客的支持信也出現(xiàn)在節(jié)目單里，我不知道他們是否意識到自己在幕后表達對法輪功的支持。
That said, if you're a big fan of sequins, be certain not to miss next year's Spectacular when it comes around—we swear to the high heavens you won't ever see anything quite like this again! Just go with the knowledge that the NTDTV Chinese New Year Spectacular is not at all a traditional celebration of the Chinese New Year that reflects the experience of most Chinese people.
廣告說，如果你喜歡表演者身上的小亮片，那別忘了參加明年的晚會——不過我發(fā)誓我們再也不要看到這樣的演出。我們總算明白了，新唐人電視臺組織的這場新年晚會，壓根就不是什么反映出大多數(shù)中國人經(jīng)歷的傳統(tǒng)慶祝新年活動。
Disclaimer: M. C— holds absolutely no affiliation with or admiration of the oppressive Communist government of the People’s Republic of China. Likewise, he has had no previous encounters with the Falun Gong.
披露者：本人和中華人民共和國政府沒有任何聯(lián)系也不是該政府的贊賞者，同樣的，也從沒有接觸過法輪功。
來源：http://www.sfist.com/archives/2007/01/08/the_falun_gong_show_sfist_goes_to_the_ntdtv_chinese_
new_year.php