China Girls

Every Chinese New Year, I will look out for the China Promotion at the Raffles City. I have been doing this for several years now and since last year it has been called 'Spring in the City'. A full page advertisement would appear in the papers giving highlights of the promotion and a schedule of the performances by the various cultural troupe from different parts of China. This year, there were five troupes performing over a period of five weeks, one week per troupe. Unfortunately, I had to miss the first troupe because I was in hospital. Nevertheless, I managed to catch all the four remaining performances.

Why the interest? I capture the performances on my HD video camera. These are very good cultural troupes from the interior China and not often seen outside of China. Moreover the performances are free and worth keeping a record for posterity.

When I decide to go for the shoot, I would need to leave early by taxi in order to 'chope' a nice spot on the second floor outside 'Marks & Sparks', which would place me very nicely looking centre stage. There is nothing to obstruct me in front. This is normally on a weekday when the crowd is not too big. Showtime at 1 pm, and I am in position by 12 or 12.15 latest. Other photographers will saunter in later and set up their equipment. But they are generally a friendly bunch and easy to strike up a conversation on photography. We share the space and give respect to each other. At the edge of the stage, there is usually a group of men with cameras, who are there almost everyday. Somebody made a remark one day, that some of the old men there, peek up the China girls' dress!

One evening, I decided to do an evening shoot at 7 pm. While there were no other camera people next to me, there were other spectators who created a lot of noise. Not good for my mike to pick up all that jabber. There were two women sitting on the floor and during the entire performance, they were talking so loud. That is why I have to use a boom mike to zoom in on the performers to try and minimise the environmental noise. I guess I will have to put up with this, it being a public area.

After the performance, which is usually about 1.40 pm., I would then pack up my camera and tripod and head for lunch at the Food Junction. Lately my wife has been joining me. While I set up my camera and waited, she would be browsing the stalls and shops to join me after the performances for lunch. Good time to go to the Food Junction, because the office workers would have finished their lunch, and the crowd thins out.

Some of the China girls are pretty. I was impressed with the troupe from Mongolia. They stood straight and tall. When the compere came out, everyone oh and ah over her height and beauty! Their costume was very colourful and immaculate and the performance was very good and lively. The girls had porcelain complexion.

On their last performance, the troupe from Guangzhou appeared and I was equally impressed by the girls petite and graceful appearance. Young and energetic, the youth performed well. One of the dances sounded like Middle Eastern and suggested it could be from the Silk Road.

In one of the performances, a group of girls from JingDeZhou performed porcelain music, striking porcelain plates, gongs and bells. They were backed by a flute and Er Hu players. Very unusual and unique.

All in all, some very interesting performances not seen here. I now have several DVD containing all the different performances. Lately, with my new HD video camera, the results have been excellent and much improved from the previous DV tapes. Looking at some of the recordings have reminded me of my previous visit to China and the people there.

Till then....