Michael Jackson and his poems remembered in China

By Zhang Rui: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, June 29, 2016

Child star Yu Tianyang and Chinese impersonator Wang Jingyuan dance at a book launch event for Michael Jackson's "Dancing the Dream: Poems and Reflections" in Beijing on June 25, 2016 to mark the seventh anniversary of his death. [Photo by Wu Bing / China.org.cn]

A dazzling show rocked Beijing on Saturday at a special book launch for Michael Jackson's "Dancing the Dream: Poems and Reflections" in China on the seventh anniversary of the King of Pop's death.

Top Chinese Michael Jackson impersonators Wang Jingyuan, Lu Yuantao, and eight-year-old child star Yu Tianyang danced to MJ's poems and classic songs. The performances on Saturday were designed around the book "Dancing the Dream," which was originally released in 1992 but was never published in China until now.

Several Chinese TV and radio anchors and hosts, including Fan Long, Wang Lin, Han Dong and well-known performers He Jinwen, Hu Lemin, also joined the cast, using emotional voices to read Jackson's poems, translated into Chinese by Chen Dongbiao.

Top cultural critics Wang Xiaofeng, Keen Zhang and China National Radio host Zhang Dawei briefly remembered Jackson before the show started.

"I was born in the 1960s, but I've seen people born during the 1970s to the 2000s come here today to commemorate him," Wang said, "this is enough to show how big he was and he will continue to influence the world." Wang called Jackson a "legend" and added that the singer was the one who opened Chinese eyes and ears in the 1980s when China first opened up to the world.

On the seventh anniversary of his death on June 25, Chinese fans have expressed their love and commemoration to their icon in many ways, including flash mobs and vigils, now they're hoping to explore more of his legacy taking him as source of spiritual inspiration.

Before the new Chinese version, there was one edition of a poem translated by Taiwan-based lyricist Chen Lerong. For the new version, the publishing press invited Chen Dongbiao, an experienced and established translator who has published translations of Vladimir Nabokov, William Butler Yeats, Jorge Luis Borges and Ezra Pound since the 1990s.

"I suggest readers to pick up his book pretending that they haven't ever heard of him," Chen said. "You'll discover a new dimension to examine Jackson, while seeing the world through his eyes."

Insisting that time will tell if the poems are great, Chen says it is the poems that help piece together the multi-faceted Jackson into a complete personality.

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