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How do we teach our children in this culture of winners that it is OK to lose?
The Music of China's Sa Dingding
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, August 12, 2008.
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The Olympic games in Beijing are shining a new light on China. We often hear and read stories about the country’s growing industrial and economic power, but its culture is less understood in the West. Some Chinese movies make it over to the States, but not as much pop music. At least, not yet.
Musician Sa Dingding is huge in Beijing, and she’s starting to gain some notoriety in the West. She’s been called “the voice of the new China”. She’s 25, fabulously camera-ready, and she’s from a family of Mongolian nomads. She performs in flowing silk robes, and she sings in Mandarin, Tibetan, and a language of her own invention. We spoke with Sa Dingding during a recent visit to the United States.
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Word of Mouth is all about what's new. Online and on-air, the show looks at our fascinating and ever-changing world, and puts the latest ideas under a microscope. Word of Mouth investigates everything from science and technology, to health and the environment, to new trends in popular culture. The show airs Monday through Thursday at noon and is hosted by Virginia Prescott.
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I was disturbed to hear NHPR creating yet another media platform for Chinese government propaganda in the guise of an 'entertainment' story. Who speaks for the Tibetans? Where is their story? Not in the mouth of some 25 year old pop star.
If if it is true that certain people are disturbed about this article, please know that other people are disturbed that every story about China evidently must be a negative one for such people to be satisfied. Enough with the pro-Tibet angle for a while. China is a big country. Tibet is only one part of it.
As someone who works in the field of East Asian Studies, I have seen some interesting reactions before about China, but lashing out at this story and this singer is overkill. Ms. Sa Dingding is working with what she has been told, and what she said is in fact historically correct. China has a long history of absorbing ethnic groups and making them "Chinese" just by coexisting, including invaders who have ruled China. She was instructed by her government that Tibet is now apart of China and going against the Chinese Government is a dangerous thing.
Singing in Tibetan stirs the pot. I applaud her for it. Singers in the West tend to get involved in social issues once they gain the power of public adoration. Since she speaks Tibetan, she may have a way to address the situation in the future. I am pro-Tibetan, but I am also pro-next generation thinking. China is slowly moving in a new direction. They need people in the spotlight who know their history, so I hope that Ms. Sa Dingding does well and inspires cultural relativity both inside China and abroad.