王力宏牛津大学英语演讲

Thank you all for being here today, and thelate comers as well. Thank you for coming in quietly. I wanna start off todayjust to take a moment of silence for the victims of the Si Chuan earthquake, andalso for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. So let's just take aminute, to pay our respects to this.

I never thought I would be addressing you,the esteemed members of the Oxford Union, without a guitar or an herbal, withoutmy crazy stage hair costumes. But I did perform at the O2 Arena in London lastweek. I'm not sure if any of you were able to make that, but in many ways thatwas similar to what I'm talking about today, that is introducing Chinese pop music people.

See, I'm actually an ambassador for Chinesepop. Whether I like it or not, both music and movies, and today I'm here togive you the state of the Union address. It's not the Oxford Union, it's theunion of East and West. I want to, frankly openly and honestly talk about howwe've done a good job or how we've done a bad job of bringing Chinese pop tothe West. And I also want to impress upon all of you here today the importanceof that soft culture, that soft power exchange and how each of us is involvedin that exchange. Soft power, a term I'm sure you're all familiar with at thispoint, coined by Rhodes scholar and Oxford along Joseph Nye, is defined as the abilityto attract and persuade, Shashi Tharoor called it in the recent Ted Talk, theability for a culture to tell a compelling story and influence others to fallin love with it. I like that definition.

But I wanna put it in collegiate terms forall you students in the audience. The way I see it, East and West are kind oflike freshman roommates. You don't know a lot about each other, but suddenlyyou're living again in the same room. And each one is scared that the other isgoing to steal his shower time or wants to party when the other wants to study.It has attentional to beabsolute hell, doesn't it? We've all had horror stories of that roommate, we'veall heard about those stories. I know a lot of students here at Oxford haveyour own separate bedrooms. But when I was a freshman at Williams College, Iwas not so fortunate. You're kidding me. Alright alright, great. Well, I had aroommate and he was that roommate. Let's just call him Frank. So Frank was myroommate and Frank like, nothing more than to smoke weed and he did it everyday. Anne Frank had a 2 foot long bong under his bed that was constantly beingfired up. For those Chinese speakers in the audience, Frank would hold thetrain high on that long every day. So I guess I was kind of the opposite ofBill Clinton, who tried marijuana but didn't inhale. See I didn't try marijuana,but I didn't help.

Every single day, second hand, andstrangely enough, every time I go into our bedroom, I'd mysteriously end uplate for Class. I don't know what happened. It was like this is already 10:00o'clock. So, How many of you have lived with a Frank or could be a Frank yet? Havinga roommate can be a recipe for disaster, but it also has the potential forbeing the greatest friendship you ever had. See Frank, he didn't make it thesecond year. And I got two new roommates second year. Steven and Jason. And this data three of us are thebest of friends. Sogoing back to my analogy of East and West as roommates, do we want to be Frankor do we want to be Stephanie, Jason and I think in this training in 2013 weshould all be striving for the latter, shouldn't we? I mean. Assuming I'massuming that we all agree that this is the goal, we should all be strivingfor. Now let's look at, we are in reality, recent headlines in the mediainclude Foreign Policy Magazine. China's victim complex. Why are Chineseleaders so paranoid about the United States or the AFP? The Agence FrancePresse, human rights in China, worsening US finds.Bloomberg says.In the coversmagazine, yes, the Chinese army is spying on you.

And it's such a great.It's such a great onethat I just wanted to show you the cover of the magazine.Time.Yes, be veryafraid.OK.Listening to right?So this is actually extremely high amount ofnegativity, fear and anxiety about China Sinophobia.That, I think is not justmisinformed but also misleading and ultimately dangerous, very dangerous. Andwhat about how Westerners are viewed by Chinese well?We have terms forWesterners, the most common of which are wild.In Cantonese, which means the olddevil.Lahuimeaning the old outsider in Mandarin.Animal, which means the redhaired one in Taiwanese. Phyllis goes on and on. So are these roommates headedfor a best friend relationship?I think we need a little help.And as China risesto be a global power, I think it's more important than ever for us to be discerningabout what we believe, because after all, I think that's the purpose of highereducation and that's why we're all here to be able to think for ourselves andmake our own decisions.

China is not just those headlines. Theburgeoning economy of unique politics. It's not just the world's factory or thenext big superpower. It's so much more. A billion people with rich culture,amazing stories and as a product of both of those cultures. I wanna help fosterunderstanding between the two. And help create that incredible relationship.

Because knowing both sides of the coin, Ireally think that there is a love story. Wendy talk, wait on phone and I'm onlyhalf joking when I say love story because I believe it is the stories that willsave us will bring us together and my thesis statement for today's talk is thatthe relationship between the East and West needs to be and can be fixed.Via popculture, that's a big fat plain, and I'm going to try and back it up. Now theUN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said there are no languages required in themusical world. That is the power of music that is the power of the heart. Throughthis promotion of ours, we can better understand the culture and civilizationsof other people in this era of instability and intolerance, we need to promotebetter understanding through the power of music. Now the UN Secretary Generalthinks we need more music. And I think he's right.

Music and arts have always played a keyrole in my life in building relationships, replacing what once was ignorance,fear and hatred with acceptance, friendship and even love. So I have a strongcase for promoting music between cultures because it happened to me early inlife. I was born and raised in Rochester, NY. I barely spoke a word of Chinese.I didn't know the difference between Taiwan or Thailand .I was.It's true I wasas American as Apple pie. Until one day on the 3rd grade playground, theinevitable finally happened. I got teased for being Chinese. Now every kid getsteased or made fun of on the playground, but this is fundamentally differentthan I knew it right then and there. This kid, let's call him Brian McElroy. Hestarted making fun of me, saying Chinese, Japanese dirty knees look at these.

I can't believe you're laughing at that,that hurts. I can still remember how I felt. I felt ashamed. I feltembarrassed. I but I laughed along with them with everyone and I didn't knowwhat else to do. It was like having an out of body experience as if I couldlaugh at that Chinese kid on the playground with all the other Americansbecause I was one of them, right? Wrong on many levels. And I was facing forthe first, but definitely not the last time. The harsh reality that I was inminority. In Rochester, which in those days had an Asian population of 1%.And Iwas confused. I wanted I wanted to punch Brian. I wanted to hurt him forputting me in that situation, but. He was faster than me and they were strongerthan me. I would kick my butt and we both knew that so.I just took it in. And Ididn't tell anyone or share with anyone's feelings. I just held them in and Ilet them fester. And those feelings would surface in a strangely therapeuticway for me through music.And it was no coincidence that around that time Istarted getting good at the violin and the guitar and drums, and I would soondiscover that by playing music or singing other kids would for a brief moment. Forgetabout my race or color and accept me and then be able to see me for who I trulyam. A human being was emotional, spiritual, curious about the world and has aneed for love just like everyone else.

And by the 6th grade. Guess who asked me ifI would be the drummer for his big?Brian the killer. And I said yes, and that'swhen we together formed our elementary school rock band called Nirvana .I'm notkidding. I was in a rock band called Nirvana before Kurt Cobain. Servando wasever known, so under Vanna came out. Brian I or like hey, he's stealing ourname. But really, what attracted me to music at this young age was just this anin Stillwater. I love about music is that it breaks down the walls between usand shows us so quickly the truth. That we are much more alike than we aretoday.

And then in high school.I learned thatmusic wasn't just about connecting with others like Brian I were connectedthrough music. It was a powerful tool of influence and inspiration. Sam. Whenwas my high school janitor he was an immigrant from Vietnam? Who barely spoke aword of English Sam swept the floors and clean the bathrooms in high school for20 years and he never talked to the kids and the kids never talked to Sam. Butone day before the opening night of our schools annual musical. He walked up tome holding a letter. And I was taking it back, I was thinking.Why is Sam thejanitor approaching me and he gave me this letter that I've kept this day itwas scrawled in a shaky hand written in all capitals and it read in all myyears of working as a janitor at Sutherland. You're the first Asian boy to playthe lead role. I'm gonna bring my 6 year old daughter to watch you performtonight. Because I want her to see that Asians can be inspiring.

And that letter just forward me, I was 15years old, and I was absolutely stunned .That's the first time I realized howmusic was so important. With Brian music help 2 kids who were initially enemiesbecome friends, but with Sam Music Web beyond the one on one. It wasn't even ahigher level, it influenced others. I didn't even know in ways I could neverimagine. I can't tell you how grateful I am to Sam janitor to this day. Hereally is one of the people who helped me discover my life 's purpose. And Ihad no idea that something I did could mean more than I ever imagined to animmigrant from Vietnam, who barely even spoke English. Pop culture music. Andthe other methods of storytelling movies, TV dramas. They are so key and theydo connect us like me and Brian and do influence us and inspire us. Then let'stake another look at the state of the union.The East West Union, with thissoft, power bias .How is the soft power exchange between these two roommates?Are there songs in English that have become hits in China short? How aboutmovies? Well, there are so many that China has had to limit the number ofHollywood movies imported in the country so that local films can even have achance at success. What about the flip side of that? the Chinese songs have hitin the West.

No. Yeah, and movies. Well, there wascrouching Tiger that was 13 years ago.And, uh.Well, I think there's a bit.Of animbalance here, and I think it's a. Soft power deficit is called that when welook in this direction. That is to say the West influences the East more thanvice versa. Anne. Forgive me for using the East and West kind of loosely butit. I think it's a lot easier to say this thing with the English speakinglanguage. Or are the Asian speaking language in Chinese or getting intospecifics. I think I'm making generalizations and I hope you can go with me onthis.Is is this intrinsically a problem with this imbalance in in pop culturalinfluence, and I think so.I think in any healthy relationship or friendship ormarriage isn't it important for both sides to make an effort to understand theother and that this exchange needs to have a healthy balance. And how do weaddress this?As.An ambassador for Chinese pop music and movies. I have to askmyself. The question why does this deficit exist?Is it because Chinese musicjust is playing and? Don't answer that please.

Yeah, I can see something like stopcomplaining and write a hit song? Side. it? Yeah. But actually there's truth inthat and the argument being that the content we've created just isn't asinternationally competitive and why should it be well look at look at Koreanpop look at K pot for example. Korean export based economy and their outward lookingand they must be out looking Chinese pop on the other end. Can just kind ofstay domestic tour all over China speaking territories and comfortably sustainso when you're that big and powerful there over 160 cities in China with1,000,000 or more people. You tend to kind of turn inward and be complacent, sothis certainly can be an argument made for Chinese pop being. Not marketed withinternational sensibilities of money. But the other side of the argument. Ithink is more interesting and thought provoking and even more true that westernears. Aren't familiar with and therefore? Don't really understand? How toappreciate Chinese music Ouch OK? The reason I think that argument holds water,though, is because that's exactly what I went through. So I happen to know athing or two about learning to appreciate trying pot as a western. As I was 17years old when I went from being an Asian kid in America to being an Americankid in Asia. And the entire paradigm suddenly got flipped on its head. I grewup listening to Beastie Boys, Led Zeppelin, guns and roses, and I found myselfin Taiwan listening to the radio and thinking where is the B, where thescreeching guitar solos they're hearing is American kid in Asia listeningChinese music for the first time and thinking this stuff is lame? I don't. Idon't like it. I thought it was cheesy production value was low. The singerscouldn't felt like Axel rose or Mariah Carey. But then one day I went to myfirst Chinese pop concert and it was recent shame on you. Performing in the typingso Java, the Tibu Center and as he performed. I looked around the audience andI saw their faces and the look in their eyes. Their responses miss to his musicand it was clear to me finally where the problem lay. It wasn't that the musicwas lacking, it was my ability to appreciate it and to hear it in the rightway.

Crowd they would sing along and be totallyimmersed in this music and I had this epiphany that I was missing the point. Andfrom now on, I was going to.Somehow learn how to get.I was going to learn howto here with local ears and I deconstructed and analyze what it was that madeChinese audiences connect with certain types of melodies and rhythms and songstructures and lyrics and that's what I've been doing for the past almost 20years and it took me along time and I'm still learning but at some point I notonly be. Began to be able to appreciate the music, but I started being able tocontribute to it and create my own fresh spins on the tried and true, and Ithink this happens to everyone really, who's on the outside looking in? Italways looks strange if you look at things from your perspective, you're alwaysgoing to think that these people are weirdos. What's wrong with it? Why arethey listening to this stuff? And I'm saying that you can make an effort andget it can be done, and I'm living proof of that and.As an ambassador ofChinese pop, I'm trying to get people to open up to a sound that they may notfeel is palatable at the first listen.So what else can we do to reduce thisimbalance in our popular cultures? Well, maybe give a talk to the Oxford Union.Hum tour more outside of China but seriously actually I think that eyes arealready starting to change. Very slowly, very cautiously, almost calculatinglyyou see more cross cultural exchange now. More interest in China. Definitely alot of joint ventures. Alot of Co Productions in recent years. Iron Man, ThreeTransformers 53 Resident Evil really. It's it's beginning. To be kind of like aworld pop an.That's what I'm looking forward to. That's what I'm focusing onthese days. There was J Pop. There's K pop there. See pop and there's like thisW pop that's kind of starting to emerge. This world pop and I think. Yeah, Ilove that idea that it's not it's not world music. It's not like they used tobe a section HM be called world music that was like ethnomusicology class incollege now but world pop is more about breaking and tearing down age oldstereotypes. The artificial confines that have kept us apart for way too long .It'sa melting pot and it's a mosaic that even when we look up close will still seethe colors of the flavors of each culture in detail.

And where can we go to listen to worldpop?I don't think there's a roll pop station or magazine. Unfortunately thereare none there should be, but there is the Internet and YouTube drivingforcesworld.com. Made Susan Boyle the hottest act in the world. And sheachieved that not through the record labels or the networks, but throughgrassroots sharing. Gangnam Style is another great example of how that justtook over and became a huge worldwide world pop phenomenon. So world pop alsosuggests a worldwide pop culture and something that can be shared by all of usand give us a lot of common ground. So today.What's my call to action?I willhelp improve and promote cultural exchange between the East and West, and Ithink I've made that clear, but how?I think.You can all become pop singerShirley. I think that's that's the answer.Alexa.Um? Michael Jackson is thisbuild. Get that roommate relationship between the East and West value thisrelationship and take ownership of it. Don't come to Oxford as an exchangestudent from Taiwan and only hang out with other Chinese students. Why wouldyou do that? You could do that back in line, or Nanjing or wherever you camefrom.Don't buy into the headlines or the stereotypes, or into the hypernationalism. Think for yourselves.

Both get to know one another. I think foryourselves I don't believe the hype for a moment. If we could just disregardthe governments and we will say, just for sake of argument. With our own toolsof critical thinking, we can we build relationships that actually see oneanother as they give it something beings and not faceless members of aparticular ethnicity. Now of course we can do that. And Dream, I think of theromantic artist in the position. I think it's always been there. That's what Iwas. That's what makes music in our so politicians are true. It breaks down,instant disintegrates. All the artificial barriers that we've created betweeneach other government nationality black, Brown, yellow, white, whatever coloryou are. And shows each other our hearts, our fears, our hopes and our dreams.And it turns out. In the end that the East isn't. That far, after all, and theWest or the West in Stillwater. And through understanding each others popularcultures, we gain insight. In each others hearts and true selves. And for thoseof you who are just beginning that journey to the West and East, I want toinvite you today on this amazing journey with me. And I, as an experiencedtraveler on this road on the West Indies Rd, I prepared a mix tape for all ofyou today of 10 songs that I love.Yeah. Ecstasy hot mix tape.

篇幅所限，完整文本请关注公众号：我学习我骄傲 查看