Foreigners speaking Chinese in China have always been a bit of a rarity, although recently more and more are mastering the language. The few brave foreigners who dare to sing in Chinese typically attract even more attention. Here are just a few:
1. Feichang Fresh
Here’s a group of Beijing expats who uploaded their music video ‘Beijing Love Song’ onto Youku.com. Subsequently it has accumulated over 900,000 visitors. Arseny Kaifel, a 23 year-old German student, tells The Global Times: “I never felt like this song would reach this level… We were practically joking around when writing it – maybe that’s why it sounds so relaxed and fun.”
Kaifel is also an aspiring filmmaker, so the production on the video is much better than your typical user-generated clip. Have a look for yourself below (alternative on Youku):
2. Does anyone remember the Red Foreigner?
While acts like Feichang Fresh are indeed a rare sight in China, this one is not the first foreign act to hit it big online. Some of you may remember the amazing ‘Red Foreigner’ or ‘Hong Laowai’ who gained much attention (both good and bad) back in 2008.
3. More Propaganda Fun
In the same ‘Communist’ spirit as the Red Foreigner, just this month a successor emerged to take over the foreigner-singing-Chinese-propaganda niche. Like the Red Foreigner a few years back, ‘Brother Hao’s videos have gone viral racking up nearly a million hits in just a few days. Here’s one of his performances below (alternative on YouTube):
4. Not really a musician? No problem!
And then there was this guy back in March who Milli-Vanillied his way to quasi-fame on the Chinese net, lip-syncing some Jay Chou tunes. The multi-window presentation here is lots of fun.
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