Michael Jackson and his poems remembered in China

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

China's top cultural critics Wang Xiaofeng, Keen Zhang, China's Jackson fanclub leader, and Zhang Dawei, a China National Radio host, talk and remember the King of Pop 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]

Keen Zhang, who is the president of the Michael Jackson Chinese Fanclub (MJJCN.com), used two words to describe Jackson at the event, "innocent and pure." He refused to believe the disturbing innuendos portrayed in the tabloids through the years.

Recently, news surfaced from Radar Online that a police report suggested that Jackson had a stash of child, torture, and sexually explicit animal sacrifice pornography seized by authorities during the 2003 police raid on his Neverland Valley Ranch.

But Jackson's defense attorney Thomas Mesereau said that the information is "dated, exaggerated and irrelevant. It was all litigated in 2005. It was completely rejected by a jury 11 years ago.." During his 2005 trial, authorities discovered that Jackson owned conventional adult magazines like "Playboy" and "Penthouse," but asserted there was no child pornography among his belongings.

"A poetry collection will reach wider audiences beyond the fans, enabling more people to appreciate Jackson's extraordinary talent and benevolent heart," said Huang Yan, Shanghai Cai Qin Ren Culture's deputy editor-in-chief, "The book will offer a window for people to view Jackson and eliminate misunderstandings."

Huang's company co-presented "Dancing the Dream" with the East China Normal University Press and Shanghai Qiyeshu Culture Media, as the book is licensed by the Estate of Michael Jackson. The Chinese version is loyal to the 1992 first edition by Doubleday, is bilingual with both of the translation and original text, and is intensively illustrated with some 100 photos, art pieces and sketches from Jackson's personal collection.

The book is only one of the two books written by Jackson. The other is his autobiography "Moonwalk."

During a Simulchat in 1995, Michael Jackson stated, "I wrote a book called 'Dancing the Dream.' It was more autobiographical than 'Moonwalk,' which I did with Mrs. Onassis. It wasn't full of gossip and scandal and all that trash that people write, so I don't think people paid much attention to it, but it came from my heart. It was essays, thoughts and things that I've thought about while on tour."

Michael Jackson died of an acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles due to homicidal negligence by his personal physician on June 25, 2009. Jackson's death has triggered an outpouring of grief from around the world for the past seven years.

Zhang, the fanclub leader, added that his club has raised nearly US$6,000 to buy thousands of flowers in the United States to place them at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Glendale, California where Jackson was laid to rest. Meanwhile, the Shanghai fan club also rented tribute time on Shanghai's biggest outdoor screen on one side of the 140-meter-high, 43-meter-wide Citigroup Tower at the Bund on June 25 to show images of Jackson dancing.