Foreigner TV

Taigong Lake National Park

[First published June 22, 2014] So there I was, standing in front of an enormous statue of the Qi emperor, with a municipal government translator holding an umbrella over me to shade my head from the sun, while also holding my purse for me so I wouldn't get tired, while 12 other people representing the television station and the local government looked on encouragingly, as the television director patiently but urgently repeated the nine Chinese words that I was supposed to learn on the spot to repeat enthusiastically while smiling at the camera.

How did this happen? I thought to myself. Why am I here with all these people looking at me and a director pleading with me like I'm a particularly dim-witted starlet?

Sometimes you can get a taste of what it feels like to be a celebrity just by being a foreigner in China. People stop and stare, some call out "hello," some want to take their picture with you, and some young people are frankly awestruck when you speak to them.  But for a few days in early June, we Zibo foreign teachers got to live the lives of TV celebrities...

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Banquet in Boshan

Television executive

Interview for the show

A few weeks ago, my department head informed me that Shandong International Television wanted to do a program about foreigners living in Zibo and six adjacent cities. The project had the blessing of the local Foreign Affairs bureau. The idea was to film us foreigners as we sampled the area's cultural heritage and natural beauty, and make a TV show out of it. The French teacher, her fiance and I were selected to be Zibo foreigners.  New experiences, right? 

Director John

Well, I felt quite self-conscious, to tell you the truth.  Were they going to film me doing tai chi then play it back all sped up with Yacky Sax for the sound track?  I broke out in a cold sweat whenever the camera came near me, starting in the classroom as they filmed me with my students.  But the officials at our school were clearly very pleased about the fact that we'd been chosen, so I didn't want to be a wet blanket about the whole thing.  Also I took an instant liking to our young director, John, who had an appealing hipster/consumptive poet sort of demeanor. 

After filming at the school, it was onto the bus with several local government dignitaries plus a translator plus the television crew. For our first stop, ironically, we went to a cherry orchard in Boshan, in a green valley surrounded by low mountains -- a lot like my Okanagan Valley home. There we picked and sampled the local cherries. Below right is the manager of the orchard -- she had a face like sunshine.

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Cherry orchard

We finished our first day at a five-star hotel in Boshan District with a banquet of local Boshan cuisine, presided over by some local dignitaries. The next two days we traveled all over the area, stopping here and there to admire the work of local artists in glass and ceramics or to walk through a museum. Every time we stopped we were greeted by more dignitaries and another banquet. There was also the rustic breakfast on the sidewalk that I mentioned earlier. I'll discuss banquets and toasting in another post.

So, I did about three takes in front of the massive statue. I think I managed to say, in Chinese, how much I loved Zibo. As you would have, too, if two dozen of Zibo's finest citizens were smiling at you. I don't know what if anything will be in the finished show. More info about that to come.

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