Lure of Chinese language fame persists at Vancouver pageant

The eight ladies lining as much as take questions included a pediatrician, a authorized assistant and a piano instructor.

However standing on stage of their bikinis on the River Rock On line casino in Richmond, B.C., they’d one purpose — to grow to be the following Miss Chinese language Vancouver.

The recognition of the 27-year-old pageant is a testomony to each the continued lure of movie star in Hong Kong and Chinese language present enterprise, and what one professional referred to as the “aura” surrounding Chinese language Canadian entertainers throughout the Pacific.

Vancouver has lengthy served as a expertise supply for the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese language leisure scenes, and the mutual attraction persists regardless of current political tensions over the crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong and allegations of Chinese language political interference in Canada.

Dance instructor Yi Yi Wang, 19, who was introduced the winner of the pageant on Dec. 3, hopes to grow to be an actor and environmental activist.

Removed from being deterred by political tensions, Wang thinks her training on the College of British Columbia, the place she is learning for a level in worldwide relations, might be become a bonus within the Chinese language movie trade. She’s additionally open to alternatives within the West.

“I’m somebody who grew up in China and studied in Vancouver, so I’m very conscious of each cultures and don’t assume there’s a battle in me pursuing leisure wherever else as a result of my ultimate purpose is to attach individuals from everywhere in the world collectively,” stated Wang, who began participating in pageants on the age of 15.

The pageant, organized by Fairchild TV, performs a key position in figuring out expertise for Chinese language-language present enterprise. Previous winners who discovered fame and careers in Hong Kong as singers or actors embody Bernice Liu who gained in 2000, Eliza Sam who gained in 2009, 2011’s Erica Chui, and 2012’s Gloria Tang.

All went on to be topped Miss Chinese language Worldwide in Hong Kong, a title that has been held by at the least six Vancouverites and two from Toronto, in accordance with TVB, the Hong Kong tv community that organizes the pageant. Miss Chinese language Worldwide winners are supplied contracts with TVB.

Wang stated she additionally has her sights set on the Miss Chinese language Worldwide title.

“For now, I want to proceed my work as Miss Chinese language Vancouver to characterize town by doing extra volunteering work and giving again to my area people,” she stated.

College of B.C. musicologist Dr. Hedy Regulation stated would-be Chinese language-Canadian idols profit from what Chinese language and Hong Kong audiences perceived as their “sophistication.”

“They’re taller, stunning and so they communicate English so effectively. Many individuals (in China and Hong Kong) really feel: ‘wow, they’re simply so implausible,’” stated Regulation, an affiliate professor on the College of Music at UBC who not too long ago helped set up a Cantopop, or Cantonese pop music, track contest for college students.

“There’s a sort of an aura across the Chinese language Canadians and generally, despite the fact that their Cantonese and Mandarin usually are not that good, or perhaps a bit off, individuals nonetheless discover them very cute and engaging.”

Hong Kong leisure loved robust connections to Vancouver within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineteen Nineties, when stars akin to Cantopop idol and actor Leslie Cheung moved to Canada, however Regulation stated the hyperlink dates again a lot additional.

Regulation stated a “transpacific leisure community” existed among the many Chinese language-speaking diaspora a century in the past.

“Once you speak in regards to the leisure trade, you’ll want to keep in mind: the leisure trade at all times follows the group,” stated Regulation.

Legal guidelines traced the connections again to the Nineteen Twenties when Cantonese-speaking musicians from Hong Kong and Guangzhou in southern China would journey by ship to carry out in Vancouver, the place their musical abilities bloomed.

She stated the phenomenon persists, with Hong Kong music trade figures travelling to Vancouver to each take up the native leisure tradition and share their data. Hong Kong acts proceed to get pleasure from robust help when touring to Vancouver, Regulation stated.

Cantopop boy band Mirror was in Vancouver this month to advertise the brand new season of King Maker, a actuality TV present that seeks to establish Chinese language pop idols from amongst a bunch of North American contestants, many from Vancouver.

“It’s not shocking to see Mirror coming to city as a result of we’ve got the audiences right here and we at all times have the leisure enterprise community,” stated Regulation.

“What we see now’s mainly the continuation of the identical sort of community.”

Queen’s College medical science graduate Renee Jan was first runner-up on this 12 months’s Miss Chinese language Vancouver pageant.

She hopes to signal with an leisure firm to additional a music profession.

She’s extra apprehensive about how her Mandarin will get up in a Chinese language setting than political considerations. Mandarin is especially spoken in mainland China, whereas Cantonese predominates in Hong Kong.

“If (my profession) is in Asia, I really feel like I might have slightly little bit of a tougher time due to my Mandarin,” stated Jan.

She stated she additionally worries about leaving household and buddies behind in Canada.

Not all of the Miss Chinese language Vancouver contestants see a future in present enterprise.

Second runner-up Dr. Nicole Tanner, 27, was a pediatrician in Hong Kong, the place she additionally carried out standup comedy. She managed to mix each fields in a public consciousness marketing campaign about colon most cancers, through which she dressed up in “poo” costume.

As a lot as she loves being on stage, Tanner’s subsequent purpose is to get a medical licence in Canada. She immigrated simply three months in the past and has no instant plans to return to Hong Kong.

What if somebody supplied her a multimillion-dollar showbiz contract in China or Hong Kong?

“It’s not in regards to the cash,” stated Tanner. “It’s extra about what I believe fulfills you, and for me, an important factor is I’m going to work day by day glad, and I get up each morning excited to go to work. And that’s what being a pediatrics physician has given me, so I might by no means give that up.”

Tanner, whose mom Maur Yeung was a Miss Hong Kong contestant in 1991, stated she joined the Vancouver pageant for the problem and to make buddies.

Regulation stated the Hong Kong and Chinese language leisure industries had been “cautious and alert” to geopolitical adjustments.

“You don’t observe the music to grasp the politics. You at all times perceive the politics and then you definately see what sort of influence it has on the tradition, together with the music,” stated Regulation. “What I’ve found is that the trade professionals are much more alert than customers about what they produce.”

She stated the transpacific leisure trade connections would persist, no matter any tensions.

“You already know, a few of my college students advised me that their mother and father immigrated right here within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineteen Nineties. They grew up listening to Leslie Chueng despite the fact that they didn’t communicate the language,” stated Regulation, including that the music created an intergenerational bond.

“The group isn’t fading, it’s not declining. It’s really increasing.”

2:02
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This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Dec. 17, 2022.

This story was produced with the monetary help of the Meta and Canadian Press Information Fellowship.