May 23 2009
Being (un)Chinese
Watching the Shaolin monks perform in the Singapore Arts Festival performance “Sutra” was a strange experience for me.
I could definite appreciate the acrobatic grace, fluid strength and poetic placement of kungfu in the context of a minimalist Anthony Gormley set and the beautiful evocative music of Polish composer Szymon Brzoska. Still, cross-cultural forays in art are always risky business – how much of an outsider eye are you bringing to an insular tradition? Can you ever hope to erase the perception that we are looking at non-Western performers as an exotic spectacle?
After all, the renowned Flemish-Moroccan choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui who is behind this collaborative project said it first grew out of his fascination with Bruce Lee and kungfu movies. So this Cherkaoui some how do a Quentin Tarantino Kill Bill turn in high art… well not quite. There is a real attempt, even within the work of art itself to address the difficulties and challenges of cultural dialogue, of mutual incomprehension that occurs when two different traditions meet. The work being unconscious of the kungfu stereotypes in the West, somehow paradoxically can’t escape from the overarching cliches that have fascinated outsiders for so long.
I really wonder how these monks’ lives have changed – from being isolated in the Shaolin Temple in Henan, China to touring to sold out critically acclaimed shows.
One of the most moving parts of the work I felt was when Sidi Larbi finally joins in the kungfu sequences near the end of the performance; he doesn’t pretend to have mastered the art of kungfu – instead he follows the monks’ movements through an almost gentle dance. He makes no attempt to execute their breathtaking flawless leaps into the air, he just lets the language of their bodies flow into his own somehow and turns their each stance and punch into an elegant fluid dance move. It was really something to behold. Somehow through the abstract form, an understanding was reached about how although we might never be able to truly embrace a culture alien to our own, and there is still much richness that can come out of the encounter.
The funny thing was though that watching them for me was as strange as it would have been for me to watch Spanish flamenco or African tribal dance or Brazilian capoeira. No matter how much I’ve been told otherwise, I don’t really feel Chinese in any deep fundamental cultural way. I’ve learnt, slowly and sometimes painfully that how I look has really no relation to who I am culturally.
When I was in primary school I used to flunk my listening and writing tests in Mandarin and subsequently get scolded by my Chinese language teachers for not being “Chinese” enough or for being a disgrace because I couldn’t do well in my own “mother tongue”. Nevermind that my mother only spoke Malay and Penang Hokkien. I think somewhere between getting poked with a red pen and having my exercise book thrown on the classroom floor, I decided on a boycott. This lasted all the way until I reached university, barely scraping through with passes through each O’level, A’level milestone. I took a class in Chinese in the American college I went to to try and fulfill a requirement for my Comparative Literature degree and it was such a welcome change. There were Asian-Americans, Americans, international students all grappling with Chinese and no one ever questioned my lack of ability just because of my skin colour.
Of course it’s not just about the language, although that is, I’ve found, one of the only ways to access a lot of Chinese culture. I was brought up in a Catholic family that only followed a few Chinese traditions, namely Lunar New Year, Qing Ming and calling every relative by their appropriate title. Even then it was always slightly fusion with the oranges being taken to the church to be blessed and the grave spring cleaning followed by a rosary recitation.
So watching the monks made me realise – I’m really not Chinese at all. Not in that motherland sort of way. So what does that mean? How do I approach culture? Where do I find “roots” or “traditions”. It’s not an easy question to answer at all.
6 responses so far
Joanne Leow is a producer-presenter with Channel NewsAsia. She is married with 2 young sons and spends her free time reading, writing, swimming, doing yoga and cooking up a storm.
Hi Joanne,
Thanks for making my day ! I hope you continue the prime time morning thing.
Welll, you are right, i was never good at my mother tongue either and somehow scraped through till the end of O levels.
well, I think its not about “roots” I think many people do not realize that in global world it doesnt matter what roots you have. Every person is defined by his own culture, and his own way of looking at things. I work with 12 nationalities everyday, stayed in 3 countries in the last 4 years, it doesnt matter what my roots are and what my roots are not. My aim is that I am a human being and I have certain principals in life that I got to follow.
I dont know where i am going with it, but anyway hope to see you tomo on prime time morning,
Cheers,
Bir
Hi,
Liked the thoughts on this post
I think it is probably intuitive of us to typify aspects of a “foreign culture” as reference points, in order to facilitate some kind of cross-cultural exchange (just as Asians like ourselves tend to create normative assumptions of what appears “exotic” to us).
Through such exchanges we are conditiioned to find the bases for explanation and defence (sometimes passionately) of our so-called cultural identities. All this in the hope of transcending convenient stereotypes.
I don’t suppose there’s an element of attachment to the ancestral homeland among young Chinese anymore, too. What matters, though, is (renewed?) emphasis on the “ties that bind”.
Have a good day.
Dear Joanne, I am Debbie. I didn\’t go down to watch Shaolin. Maybe next time. So I have a chance to explore myself and take photo of Shaolin monks. If I am not wrong art festival is over. Don\’t worry too much. I am not very good in Chinese. Just listen carefully what other people say. I am more comfortable speaking in English rather than speaking in mandarin.
I need your help with regard to flash splash page. In your own opinion, do you like or don’t like flash splash page. If possible, can you elaborate more why you like or don’t like flash splash page. If you are not too sure about flash splash page then it is ok. It is good to see you on tv.
Take Care Joane Jie Jie
Cheers: Debbie Wee
Hi Joanne, Being or not being Chinese is not what you are but more a matter of who you are ethnically. I know many blacks (read African-American for the politically correct) who have no concept or inkling of what it is like to be African. The country where you were born is who you are. PERIOD! The rest is just icing on the cake to try and make you stand apart. IF you are born in Singapore, then you are Singaporean regardless of whether your parents are Malay, Indonesian, Thai or whatever. Be happy that you made it through school and if you are fluent or at least conversant in another language or three, GOOD ON YOU!
I myself am not Chinese-educated. My mum tried her best to teach me Chinese since I was a boy and each time, whenever I remember a character, I always forgot it in less than a month. Everything goes back to square one.
It was until when have grown up, have started to work in the society that I suddenly feel strongly about my identity of being Chinese. I had shifted from extremely Japanese, American and British mentality to extreme Chineseness in me.
I studied through the Chinese history and even traced my ancestral root which my family have lost track.
I also committed myself to learn to read and write Chinese.
Today, I am glad to be able to link myself back to who I am. Proud to be Chinese. At the same time, I’m also heartened to be able to link the western and eastern thinking. I’m a fusion of both cultures; yet distinctly Chinese.
Being born in a Hakka family with parents who watch the Chinese serial and Chinese newspaper, I thought I was from a mixed speaking family. Only recently did I notice (intentionally as I have told my Chinese friends) that I speak mainly English with both my parents (This is hard to believe). Now that I am working in China, I am trying really hard to learn the difficult language. It does not help when the Chinese here will not speak English to you, knowing that one has the China roots.