Honglaowai

Honglaowai (Chinese: 红老外; lit. 'red foreigner'), also known as Red Laowai,[1] is an internet celebrity[2] popular in China and within overseas Chinese[3] communities. He quickly became famous as a Caucasian American singing Chinese patriotic songs in videos that he uploaded to numerous Chinese video-sharing sites like Tudou, Youku, 56, etc. Frequently featured on the front page of these sites, and attracting millions[4] of views, he drew the attention of the media in Mainland China,[5] Hong Kong,[6] Taiwan,[7][8] the Americas,[3][4] and Europe.[9] He has given multiple interviews to newspapers[4][10] and television stations[3][7] and is a topic of discussion by the media.[11]

Honglaowai
Years activeNovember 7, 2007 – August 2008
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese紅老外
Simplified Chinese红老外
Literal meaningred foreigner

Videos

Honglaowai's first video, singing "Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China" (没有共产党就没有新中国), was uploaded to several video-sharing websites on November 7, 2007, as a celebration of the 90th anniversary of the October Revolution.[4] It featured Honglaowai singing topless against a white wall with a photo of Mao Zedong. In the following two weeks, he released three more videos that featured similar setups and in which he sang "The East Is Red" (东方红), "My Chinese Heart" (我的中国心), and "March of the People's Liberation Army" (中国人民解放军军歌).

Despite the controversies that Honglaowai has created, he remains popular with the public in China. The media has described his audience as thinking of him as "cute"[4] and "handsome".[10] His fans have set up several fan websites and pages dedicated to him.[12]

Clothing controversy

Because Honglaowai was not wearing a shirt in his first several videos, this caused a controversy among China's online community and China's media.[13] Several newspaper articles questioned whether his singing of traditional communist songs were meant as an insult to the Chinese Government or as art. People's Daily, the organ of the Communist Party of China initially called for the screening of websites that show Honglaowai's videos.[5] Several online polls also appeared asking whether Honglaowai was offensive to China.[14]

In his blog entry dated November 20, 2007, he explained that his intention had not been to insult China. "True communists say that it is not clothes, but ideas that are the most important!", he stated.[15] In his subsequent videos, he was no longer seen shirtless.

He made cover versions of patriotic and Communist Chinese songs, songs by Taiwanese stars Jay Chou and Jolin Tsai, and others. His video "Injury of Ceasefire" (止战之殇), an anti-war rap song originally performed by Jay Chou, has been seen more than 4 million times on the Chinese video-sharing sites.[16]

Personal life

The Honglaowai pseudonym was created by George Costow, a 30-year-old Wall Street investment banker, graduate of Princeton University, and resident of the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City.[17] His videos often feature buildings and streets situated in New York, such as the World Trade Center site.[16]

On his blog, and in his interviews, he states that he has learned Chinese by himself, and that he had not been to Mainland China yet.[15] Honglaowai announced on his blog that he would visit Mainland China for the first time on June 13, 2008. He was interviewed by Youku a week after arriving and performed a Cultural Revolution "Loyal to Mao" dance on Nanjing Road in Shanghai.

After the closing of Lehman Brothers, Mr Costow aka Honglaowai, discontinued his Sina blog.

See also

References
  1. Tan, Kenneth (November 29, 2007). "The Red Laowai releases latest single". Shanghaiist.
  2. Xie, Zhengyi (December 29, 2007). "Hottest Video Producers of 2007" (in Chinese). Jiefang Daily. Archived from the original on March 25, 2008.
  3. "TV Interview with Honglaowai" (in Chinese). SinoVision. January 28, 2007.
  4. Li, Chunxiao (December 27, 2007). "Honglaowai Attracts More than 5 Million Viewers (紅老外自演自拍MTV吸引逾五百萬人次觀賞)" (in Chinese). World Journal.
  5. "Website that Shows Foreigner Singing Revolutionary Songs Naked Needs to Be Screened (老外裸唱革命歌网站应该屏蔽)" (in Chinese). People's Daily. November 28, 2007.
  6. "Honglaowai Explodes on the Internet Singing Chinese Revolutionary Songs (唱中共革命歌拍MTV 紅老外熱爆網)" (in Chinese). The Sun (Hong Kong). December 28, 2007.
  7. Lee, Rita (January 10, 2008). "TV Interview with Honglaowai" (in Chinese). ETTV.
  8. "Not Distinguishing Between the Nationalists and the Communists, Honglaowai Amuses (国共不分「红老外」自拍MV笑掉大牙)" (in Chinese). ETTV. January 8, 2008.
  9. Broto, Antonio (November 23, 2007). "Red Foreigner Is The New Internet Phenomenon in China (El 'extranjero rojo' es el nuevo fenómeno de Internet en China)" (in Spanish). El Mundo (Spain).
  10. Chen, Qimei (December 13, 2007). "Wall Street Gold-Collar Honglaowai (唱中文歌成红人 本报独家采访 华尔街金领红老外)" (in Chinese). Youth Weekend (青年周末). Archived from the original on February 17, 2008.
  11. Zeng, Minyan (January 31, 2008). 网络英雄传：彼岸来了个红老外 (in Chinese). Yangcheng Evening News. Archived from the original on February 5, 2008.
  12. "QQ Fan Page" (in Chinese).
  13. "If Singing Naked Red Classic Songs Is Not an Insult, Then What Is It? (红网:裸唱红色经典不是恶搞炒作是什么？)" (in Chinese). Xinhua. November 30, 2007. Archived from the original on March 27, 2008. Retrieved February 15, 2008.
  14. 红老外博客裸唱东方红 被网友质疑辱华 (in Chinese). ynet.com (Beijing Youth). November 27, 2007. Archived from the original on March 28, 2008.
  15. "Questions From The Comrades (Honglaowai's Blog)" (in Chinese). November 20, 2007. Archived from the original on December 13, 2007.
  16. "Injury of Cease-fire on Youku" (in Chinese). Youku.
  17. "All Newyorkers Live Like Lei Feng! (Honglaowai's Blog)" (in Chinese). Archived from the original on December 13, 2007.
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