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Overheard at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in Xintiandi:
African-American man in his 50s: I love rap music. You heard of Tupac?
Chinese girl in her late 20s, clutching an electronic dictionary: No.
Man: What about 50 Cent? You know him?
Girl looks puzzled and shakes her head.
Man: Snoop? Snoop Dogg?
Girl still clueless.
Man, now becoming irritated: Gangsta Rap. Do you know what Gangsta Rap is?
Girl tries typing into her dictionary. More blank stares ...
“Overheard in Shanghai” is inspired by the site New York Overheard. Feel free to send us interesting/funny/odd/disturbing/stupid things you overhear in Shanghai to tips(at)shanghaiist.com and we'll publish the good ones once we get enough of them. Overheards can be in English or Chinese. But if they are in Chinese, please translate them to English, as well. Be sure to mention where you heard these interactions. Lastly, no fiction, please -- make sure your Overheard submissions really happened.
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most chinese people dont know anything about american music.. even beatles to most people is rare..
Practically all the music in China is pop pop pop. They have hip-hop and the like too, but it's all tinged w/ a sugary veneer of pop. Obviously she's oblivious to "gangsta rap".
Although what's a 20 yr old doing w/ a 50 yr old, is my question.
You must be new to China.
Martin, I'm really interested in knowing how much do you know about Chinese music. Shed me some light, please.
This is a common conversation between the East and West. The age difference, being more of a daily occurence.
I think it really depends, most Shanghainese people I know who are in their 20's definitely know and listen to music from 50 Cent, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, etc., in addition to the bubble gum pop you guys mentioned as well. I've seen a huge discrepncy in their knowledge of American culture between Chinese who are from Shanghai, Taiwan, and Hong Kong versus Chinese who are from other parts of China.
But I also agree with Martin... almost no one I know from China knows anything about the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. It seems like their knowledge of music is limited to what is shown on MTV.
Chinese music is undoutably missing the harder edge of western music, Zat. That's just a fact. Hip-hop, rock and others in China would not even be allowed to express themselves lik lyrics in the west. Plus the musical quality of east to west - people and bands right at the top - is vastly different. However it doesn't mean that you can't prefer the Chinese variety.
"It seems like their knowledge of music is limited to what is shown on MTV."
Just like the vast majority of kids in Europe and America.