A viral hit from South Korea is a rude wake-up call to aspiring Chinese artists and entertainers that cultural products need spontaneity and diversity.
韩国的一首风靡世界的舞曲惊醒了志存高远的中国艺人们：自发性和多样性对文化产品至关重要。
The immense popularity of Gangnam Style is puzzling to many Chinese, especially those who search for social significance in minutiae. As I count myself as one of the group, here is my two cents about the strange phenomenon of a South Korean rapper who is neither matinee idol, nor Pavarotti or Nureyev reincarnate, but whose number has taken the world by storm.
对于很多中国人，尤其是那些喜欢在细节中发掘社会含义的人来说，《江南Style》的盛行让他们困惑不已。一个韩国说唱歌手，既不是剧院里的日场偶像，又不是帕瓦罗蒂或努瑞耶夫转世，他的作品却能风靡全球。对这样一个奇怪的现象，我作为上述人群中的一员，想说说我的看法。
Gangnam Style is no high art. Yes, it has a catchy tune and dance moves so childish everyone can imitate. Had it used three octaves and polished choreography only trained dancers can pull off, it would never have gained such a wide audience.
尽管《江南Style》有着朗朗上口的曲调和人人都能模仿的简单舞步，但它并不在高雅艺术之列。如果这首舞曲有三个音阶和只有专业舞蹈演员才能完成的高难度舞步，它就永远不会受到如此多听众的青睐。
Now, China produces its own equivalents of surprise hits that can be explained only by their sheer simplicity in melody or absurdity in style. In the late 1990s, there was My Heart Is Too Soft; the new century saw Mice Love Rice, and most recently it was dance versions of folk-style songs by the duo Phoenix Legend. They are not critical darlings, but they invariably click with the broad public for their endless hummability.
现在，中国也产出了与《江南Style》类似，同样令人吃惊的音乐作品。这些音乐作品的流行，只能由它们极其简单的旋律和荒唐的曲风来解释了。从90年代末的《心太软》、21世纪初期的《老鼠爱大米》，到近期凤凰传奇组合的“民族风舞曲”，尽管这些作品大都不受评论家们的赞扬，但是它们消遣娱乐性的曲风却无一例外地契合了大众喜好。
As a matter of fact, it is fairly difficult for a critic to say they are a fad and will vanish before you know it. Such is their penetration into the society that everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon, including politicians who want to be seen as members of the people. Populism dictates that if you don't go along with the mass and what they enjoy, you are isolating yourself into an enclave of cynics and elites who believe themselves to be better than the rest of us.
事实上，评论家们也很难断定这些作品是否只是一股随时可能消退、暂时性的热潮。包括那些想在公共场合展现自己是群众一员的政治家在内，所有人都在追随这股潮流。这体现出了这些作品在社会中惊人渗透力。在平民主义社会，如果你不赞同群众和他们所喜好的事物，你就是在把自己孤立进一个由自以为优越的社会精英和愤世嫉俗者组成的圈子内。
The Western world certainly has its share of goofy songs accompanied by equally goofy dance steps. In 1994, the US was swept by a Spanish dance song called Macarena. Like Gangnam Style, it was aided by the music video, which featured very simple hand movements. All of a sudden, everyone on TV was doing the same move and humming the same tune.
当然，在西方社会也有由滑稽可笑的曲调和舞步组成的音乐。1994年，一首叫做马卡丽娜的西班牙舞曲风靡整个美国。这首以简单的手部动作为特点的舞曲和《江南Style》一样以MV的形式传播。突然之间，电视上的所有人都在做着同样的手势，哼着一样的曲调。
The funny thing is, the foreign languages in the lyrics do not in any way hamper their prairie-fire dissemination in English-speaking countries. Rather, they form part of the charm. From where I can see, most people simply took it as gibberish and never bothered to find out what the songs were about. The music and the video were enough for them to relate to and partake in what turned out to be collective fun rides.
有趣的是，这首歌的外语歌词非但没有给其在英语国家的迅猛传播造成任何阻碍，反而成为了这首歌魅力的一部分。在我看来，大多数人只把这篇歌词当成是胡话，很少有人想去找出它的真正含义。曲调和画面掀起的全民热潮已经足够人们去追随和体会了。
Chinese artists and entertainers are certainly capable of creating such pieces. What they lack is a sense of spontaneous fun. Those trained in academia tend to take the creative process as one of dissociating from the lighter side of life and focusing on the grave reality. Others with an eye for the market and profits are so eager to pander to their potential audience that they come up with works totally derivative and calculated they are stripped of any sincerity.
毫无疑问，中国的艺人也有能力创作类似的作品。他们欠缺的是一种自然的娱乐意识。学术界出身的人多认为这类作品的创造性过程都集中在了严酷的现实上，而丝毫没有考虑生活美好的一面。有些人则着眼于争夺市场和获取利润，非常急切地迎合他们的潜在观众，精心策划毫无创造性的作品，没有任何诚意。
Of course, you can create great works by exploring personal anxieties and societal agonies. Mo Yan's books are not fun to read, but they convey something valuable about the Chinese psyche. For light entertainment to work, fun could be the keyword. In Gangnam Style, it is so infectious it does not need translation whatsoever.
当然，通过探索个人的忧虑情感以及社会上的痛苦你可以创作出伟大的艺术作品。莫言的书读起来并不搞笑，但是却展现了中国精神的价值。而对娱乐性作品来说，乐趣就是作品成功与否的关键。而在《江南Style》中，这种乐趣的感染力已经强到了不需要任何转化或翻译的地步。
Had the hit been made in China, I'm sure there would be an army of pundits who'd pillory it for denigrating the national image. "Does it represent the great strides China has made in the past few decades?" they'll ask. "Sure, the singer looks rich and well-coiffed, but shouldn't he spend his money on more worthwhile things - like charity?"
如果这首舞曲是在中国创作的，我敢肯定会有一群专家以诋毁国家形象的罪名对其批评指责。他们会问：“这种音乐能够代表中国几十年来巨大的进步吗？”“这歌手虽然衣着光鲜看起来很有钱，可他就不能把钱花在慈善一类更有价值的事业上吗？”
So, to spruce up the image, the out-of-shape singer would be replaced by one physically fit and technically adroit so the horse-riding dance would be more fluid and "professional". Later, he would give way to an innocent looking young woman fully decked out in folk attire so that foreigners would find the video more appealing. In terms of music, a heavy dose of Chinese characteristic has to be injected - those floating lines that resemble a lark. Another approach is to fit her out with Peking Opera regalia, complete with heavy makeup and delicate hand gestures.
所以为了提升国家形象，一个身材健硕、歌舞技精湛的演员将会取代这位“走样”的歌手，使“骑马舞步”变得更加优美和专业。之后，为了使这部作品对外国人更有吸引力，这位新演员又会被另一位从头到脚民俗化的清纯女孩取代。整部作品会被赋予云雀般悠扬婉转的旋律，充满中国特色；女孩则会穿上京剧里的服装、画上浓厚的妆、舞弄精细的手指动作。
Well, this is not a hypothesis. We have such music videos galore and you cannot avoid them on the tube. They do make up a satisfying part of our performing arts legacy, but they are not all. Most importantly, they are more often unable to capture the gestalt, and the pursuit of merriment so pure that outsiders can easily identify with it.
以上并非是假设，这类音乐作品在我们国家数量多的惊人，在电视上总能看到。尽管这类作品在我们的表演艺术遗传中占了很大一部分，但他们并不能代表全部。更重要的是，这些作品往往不能把握住艺术的整体，而且不具有那种单纯对娱乐的追求，而不熟悉中国文化的人最容易理解的恰恰就是这种追求。
Art is a full spectrum, from the highest on one end to the lowest on the other. If Beethoven's Ode to Joy is a prime example of art at its most exalted and exultant, Gangnam Style must be at the polar opposite, jovial to the point of silliness. They both exist to satisfy human needs, which are not mutually exclusive. Needless to say, much of the latter do not possess the power to last till the next year, but they keep resurfacing in variations of forms.
从高雅到民俗，艺术应该是全方位的。如果说贝多芬的《欢乐颂》是高雅艺术作品的显赫代表，那么与它截然相反，《江南Style》就是民俗娱乐作品的完美代言。高雅和民俗并不相互排斥，人类对他们都有需求。尽管后者一类的作品多数持续不到一年就会消失于人们的视线，但毫无疑问的是，它们总会变换形式，再次出现。
Then, there is the satire in Gangnam Style. It is so over-the-top in both music style and production value that you intuitively know he is making fun of somebody or something. Could it be K-pop, or lifestyle of the rich and famous, or himself, or something deeper only the analytical scholar can decipher? We don't know, and we probably do not need a consensus. If you see it as polished pop with earnestness, that's fine, too.
接下了，讽刺就在《江南Style》中出现了。它的曲风和文化产出价值如此惊人，以至于你凭直觉就能猜到这首歌在取笑某些人或某件事。这位说唱歌手想表达的是韩国流行音乐的价值、名人富豪们的生活方式、他自己的个性还是只有分析大师才能领会的更深层的含义？我们不清楚，也不需要一个一致的见解。就算你把这首歌当作是一首单纯而出色的流行歌曲也未尝不可。
But here lies the greatest hurdle for Chinese imitators. We can invent melodies and dance routines that are simple and joyous, but it is not in our genes to infuse the fun with an attitude, let alone social commentary. Our education discourages that. If a kid tells a joke about an authority figure at the dinner table or in the classroom, he or she will surely not get encouragement from the parents or teachers for being sharp-tongued or quick-minded. More likely, the kid will be met with a stern look or gentle chiding for being naughty. And that is the better scenario.
但中国的模仿者们无法逾越的障碍就在这里。我们可以创作出简单、搞笑的旋律和舞步，但却不能使娱乐具有价值观点或社会性评论了。我们的教育不赞同这种行为。如果一个小孩在餐桌或课堂上开了一位权威人士的玩笑，他肯定不会被父母或老师夸奖为伶牙俐齿、思维敏捷，而是会因玩世不恭而面对责备的眼神和劝诫。而这算是很轻的惩罚了。
The fusion of social criticism and entertainment is a powerful tool and by no means Western in nature. Browse China's Internet, and you'll encounter an avalanche of black humor and social satire. But they exist in the so-called underground and rarely surface into the mainstream media or entertainment. (OK, some movies incorporate it in their comical moments.) We have no Jon Stewarts; we don't even have a Jay Leno equivalent. Our standup comics dare only make fun of the unfortunate.
社会评论与娱乐结合在一起是一股强大的力量，而这种力量不是西方人所独有的。浏览中国的互联网，你会看到铺天盖地的对社会的讽刺。但是这些讽刺仅存在于所谓的地下，几乎不出现在主流媒体或娱乐当中。（我承认有些电影将一些社会评论包含在一些有趣场景中。）我们中国没有囧司徒---乔恩·斯图尔特，甚至杰·雷诺那样的脱口秀主持人。我们的单口喜剧演员只敢拿那些不幸的人开玩笑。
All this forms an invisible obstacle for China to promote its cultural products. Soft power is not equal to tourism-style ads. It is not just about the beautiful sceneries we have and the dense skyscrapers on our horizon. Neither can our ancient sages and young sports stars embody the rich diversity of our civilization.
所有的这些给中国文化产业的发展造成了巨大阻碍。软实力不是旅游广告。不是向世界展示了我们国家美丽的景色和密集的摩天大楼就万事大吉的。无论是我们古代的智者圣人，还是当今的运动健儿都单独呈现出我们中华文明的丰富多彩。
Soft power exudes from every corner of our society and every strip of our artistic gamut. It includes our ability to laugh and to cry, to be proud of our uniqueness and to find common ground with others. I'm sure Gangnam Style does not encapsulate all the interesting things Korean people are capable of, but it told me one thing: Koreans are fun-loving. That's good enough for one pop sensation.
社会方方面面、所有的艺术领域都能体现出一个国家的软实力。我们表达喜怒哀乐的能力，我们为自己的独特而骄傲的同时寻找与其他民族的共性的能力都包含在软实力中。我相信《江南Style》无法涵盖所有韩国人民能做到的有趣事情，但是它告诉我一件事：韩国人民是娱乐的爱好者。而对于一个由流行音乐引起的轰动来说，这再好不过了。
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