20130216中国日报英文客观评论“找力宏”《Manly Matters》
2013-02-18 16:40阅读：
转载：Manly matters
Updated: 2013-02-16 10:26
By Raymond
Zhou ( China Daily)
翻译概要：朋友或恋人，是两个人的私事。不冒犯到你，干卿何事？
When male bonding turns suspiciously intimate, people turn on the
spigot of gossip. Little do they realize that human relationships
may not fit into neat categories and, in most cases, it is none of
their business if a twosome become
s soul mates or bedfellows.
CCTV's Spring Festival gala is no ordinary variety show. It's
watched by a billion people and every number is rehearsed to death.
Though a live show, a performer who launches into improvisation
will be preempted by a pre-recording of the same number. Yet, Louis
Liu, the de-facto resident magician of the gala, ad-libbed a line
during this year's illusion by making pianist Yundi Li, his
collaborator, disappear and appear. When Li assumed the look of
searching for something, Liu blurted out: 'Looking for
Leehom?'
That turned into what many in the audience say was the 'funniest
moment in the show'. It was not a joke per se, but rather, an
allusion to the supposed romance between Leehom Wang and Yundi Li
that had not long ago intrigued a nation of tabloid news
fanatics.
For those not attuned to China's entertainment scene, both Wang and
Li are superstar musicians. Wang is a pop singer and occasional
movie star, raised in the US and based in Taiwan; Li, a Chongqing
native, is a pianist with a lyricism perfect for Chopin whose
career is among the most illustrious in China.
Their paths crossed on the stage and developed into a friendship.
One would visit the other during holidays, and they would go out to
a movie together. Sometime last year, the rumor mill kicked into
high gear and catalogued numerous clues that presumably point to a
deeper relationship than mere friendship. Suddenly, Wang greeting
his fans in Chongqing dialect while performing in that city, and Li
playing a few notes from Wang's song, became evidence of a secret
love affair, as if they were flirtations between two semi-closeted
gay celebrities.
Did I mention they are both guys?
After a long silence, Wang stated in his microblog that both of
them are straight and like girls.
The magician's reference to this unconventional love story did not
rile pianist Li. But the next day CCTV posted a statement on its
blog that the line was improvised by Louis Liu and was hence
removed from the repeat broadcast. Liu, in his defense, emphasized
that everything he said and did on the show was pre-approved. Maybe
there was a lapse in communication, but most in the online
community felt what Liu did was harmless and should be treated as a
joke.
Then someone claimed that Wang, who was also on the show but in a
separate number, punched Liu in the face after the show. This was
so obvious a fabrication - by someone who is too into melodrama -
that one could only laugh at its lack of sophistication.
The brouhaha over the Wang and Li connection would be another
manifestation of showbiz triviality had it not been for the
sensitive element in the story. In a jocular way, it acts as a
zeitgeist antenna that receives the changing frequencies of public
attitudes toward homosexuality.
By no means does it imply the sexual orientation of the two
musicians in question, though. Let me state unequivocally:
gay or straight, friends or lovers, it is a
private matter between two adults, which does not concern public
interest at all. They have the right not to divulge it to
the public, including their hordes of adoring fans, and people
should learn to respect that.
What's surprising is that the public mood has been more playful
than serious, and that applies to even before Wang denied the
amorous link. One does not detect a whiff of lament that such
gifted artists are not 'normal', which I suspect would be the case
if it had happened a decade ago. People, especially the young, are
more tolerant of homosexuality as a lifestyle.
But does it mean we Chinese are not into discrimination against
gays? Not necessarily. If the two leads in this real-life saga were
not good-looking young men, public sentiment might not have been so
agreeable. This is borne out by countless online remarks to the
effect that they are more okay with gays who look good.
Beyond that, what the Wang-Li story encapsulates is a social
phenomenon called 'bromance' - men who are buddies to the extent
that arouses speculation about their sexual orientation. Bromance
is a new word in English, but in China the relationship can be
traced back thousands of years. The Chinese expression for people
in such a situation is 'sworn brothers'.
In the mythical China of ancient literature and folklore, men forge
friendships so strong they override everything else, including
family connections. A classical case is the one for the trio Liu
Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei in the Three Kingdoms tale. Three
military officers, all man's men, swear to be brothers and watch
over one another. They place the welfare of the others above
themselves. They do not seem to have a regular love or family life.
Yet, the whole thing is not redolent of anything sexual.
In Outlaws on the Marsh, the rebels deep in the mountains are
mostly male and bond with each other with total abandon. The
leader, Song Jiang, has killed his unfaithful wife; another hero,
Lin Chong, is driven to insurgence partly because his wife is
killed by evil officials. There are a few female rebels, but the
only sex in the massive tome is between a pair of antagonists who
symbolize lust. The male bond that dominates this band of brothers
is asexual or even anti-sexual, and modern revisionists with gay
sensibilities may have a field day uncovering gay undertones in
every little detail.
When I was in high school, in the late 1970s, boys and girls did
not talk to each other. There was this invisible chasm nobody would
cross - not because we did not have sexual desire, vague as it was,
but because the prevailing urge was to fight it, not go along with
it. As a result, boys would hang out with other boys. There would
be fooling around that youngsters of the current generation would
never imagine doing.
When a US newspaper carried a photo of two young men, circa 1980,
walking with hands around each other's shoulder, to illustrate
China's gay liberation, I instantly realized that they had got it
wrong. I could guarantee that the couple in the photo were not gay.
Why? Because at that time a real gay couple would rather be caught
dead than have such a public display of their relationship.
This may go against logic, but it is very much in the Chinese
genes. I once went on an assignment with an expatriate colleague of
mine, and he spotted a man and a woman flirting aggressively at a
dinner party thrown for us. He whispered to me that they must be
having an extramarital affair, but I said, 'Definitely not'. After
days with them, the Englishman told me I was right. You guessed it:
If there were something fishy going on, they would keep a
respectful distance in public, not banter like crazy.
This reminds me of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who are lifelong
pals. At the beginning of their career, reporters would ask loaded
questions about their love life, and Affleck would say he planned
to marry Damon. This essentially turned the tables on the reporter,
and the actors came out ahead by showing abundant buffoonery and
self-deprecation. Maybe Wang and Li could take a lesson from
that.
Of course, young people are much more freethinking and
straightforward nowadays. They have less to lose if they declare
love for each other and disdain for traditions. Across the country,
there are occasional reports of gay couples tying the knot even
though no authority or law would recognize the matrimony.
However liberal the environment turns, the line between male bond
and homosexuality can be blurry in the eye of the beholder. Unless
you are a close relative or someone who intends to date one of
them, it is not really in your best interests to sift through the
clues and get to the bottom of the conundrum. Whatever way of life one prefers, as long as it does not
infringe on others, we should learn to respect it. Live and let
live, as they say.
