Honglaowai

Infobox Internet celebrity
name = Honglaowai

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birthdate =
webalias = 红老外, Honglaowai
period active = November 7, 2007 - present
nationality = flagicon|USA United States of America

Honglaowai (zh-tsp|t=紅老外|s=红老外|p=Hóng Lǎowài), also known as Red Laowai cite web | url = http://shanghaiist.com/2007/11/29/the_red_laowai_1.php | title = The Red Laowai releases latest single | publisher = Shanghaiist | date = 2007-11-29 | last = Tan | first = Kenneth] (English: "Red Foreigner") is an Internet celebrity zh icon cite news | title = Hottest Video Producers of 2007 | date = 2007-12-29 | url = http://www.jfdaily.com/gb/jfxww/jishibb/node38422/userobject1ai1899134.html | last = Xie | first = Zhengyi | publisher = Jiefang Daily ] popular in China and within the Overseas Chinese zh icon cite news | title = TV Interview with Honglaowai | publisher = SinoVision | date = 2007-01-28 | url = http://www.sinovision.net/news.php?act=details&col_id=529&news_id=38844] communities. He quickly became famous as a Caucasian singing Chinese patriotic songs in videos that he uploaded to numerous Chinese video-sharing sites like Tudou, Youku, 56, etc. Frequently featured on the front page of these sites, and attracting millions of views, he drew the attention of the media in Mainland China zh icon cite news | title = Website that Shows Foreigner Singing Revolutionary Songs Naked Needs to Be Screened (老外裸唱革命歌网站应该屏蔽) | url = http://media.people.com.cn/GB/40606/6586670.html | date = 2007-11-28 | publisher = People's Daily ] , Hong Kong zh icon cite news | title = Honglaowai Explodes on the Internet Singing Chinese Revolutionary Songs (唱中共革命歌拍MTV 紅老外熱爆網) | date = 2007-12-28 | publisher = The Sun (Hong Kong) ] , Taiwan zh icon cite news |last = Lee | first = Rita | title = TV Interview with Honglaowai | publisher = ETTV | date = 2008-01-10 | url = http://www.ettoday.com/2008/01/10/11440-2214952.htm ] zh icon cite news | title = Not Distinguishing Between the Nationalists and the Communists, Honglaowai Amuses (国共不分「红老外」自拍MV笑掉大牙) | date = 2008-01-08 | publisher = ETTV | url = http://gb.ettoday.com.tw:6060/2008/01/08/162-2213529.htm ] , the Americas zh icon cite news | last = Li | first = Chunxiao | title = Honglaowai Attracts More than 5 Million Viewers (紅老外自演自拍MTV吸引逾五百萬人次觀賞) | date = 2007-12-27 | publisher = World Journal ] , and Europe es icon cite news | last = Broto | first = Antonio | title = Red Foreigner Is The New Internet Phenomenon in China (El 'extranjero rojo' es el nuevo fenómeno de Internet en China) | date = 2007-11-23 | publisher = El Mundo (Spain)| url = http://www.elmundo.es/navegante/2007/11/23/tecnologia/1195813312.html ] . He has given multiple interviews to newspapers zh icon cite news | url = http://www.yweekend.com/webnews/071213/B09/071213B0901.shtml | last = Chen | first = Qimei | date = 2007-12-13 | title = Wall Street Gold-Collar Honglaowai (唱中文歌成红人 本报独家采访 华尔街金领红老外) | publisher = Youth Weekend (青年周末) ] and television stations and is a topic of discussion by the media zh icon cite news | title = 网络英雄传：彼岸来了个红老外 | date = 2008-01-31 | url = http://www.ycwb.com/ycwb/2008-01/31/content_1778245.htm | publisher = Yangcheng Evening News | last = Zeng | first = Minyan ] .

Videos

Honglaowai's first video, "Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China" (没有共产党就没有新中国) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am-eF7p8hRA] was uploaded to several video-sharing websites on November 7, 2007 as a celebration of the 90th anniversary of the October Revolution. It featured Honglaowai singing topless against a white wall with a Mao Zedong picture on it. In the following two weeks, he released three more videos, which featured a similar setup: "The East Is Red" (东方红) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVU_kp4UR5M] , "My Chinese Heart" (我的中国心) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaIMNwiU8S8] , "March of the People's Liberation Army" (中国人民解放军军歌) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-qlvsi1tLw] .

Naked Singing Controversy

Because Honglaowai was not wearing a shirt in his first several videos, this caused a controversy among China's online community and China's media zh icon cite news | title = "If Singing Naked Red Classic Songs Is Not an Insult, Then What Is It? (红网:裸唱红色经典不是恶搞炒作是什么？) | date = 2007-11-30 | url = http://www.bj.xinhuanet.com/bjpd-whsd/2007-11/30/content_11807867.htm | publisher = Xinhua ] . Several newspaper articles questioned whether his singing of traditional Communist songs were meant as an insult to the Chinese Government or as an art. People's Daily, the organ of the Communist Party of China initially called for the screening of websites that show Honglaowai's videos. Several online polls also appeared asking whether Honglaowai was offensive to China zh icon cite news | title = 红老外博客裸唱东方红 被网友质疑辱华 | date = 2007-11-27 | publisher = ynet.com (Beijing Youth) | url = http://china.ynet.com/view.jsp?oid=25697435 ] .

In his blog entry dated November 20, 2007, he explained that his intention had not been to insult China. "True Communists say that it is not clothes, but ideas that are the most important!", he stated zh icon cite web | url = http://i.cn.yahoo.com/honglaowai/blog/p_19/ | date = 2007-11-20 | title = Questions From The Comrades (Honglaowai's Blog) ] . In his subsequent videos, he was no longer seen naked.

Until present, Honglaowai continues to release videos with a frequency of about once every one or two weeks. He has so far made cover versions of patriotic and Communist Chinese songs, songs by Taiwanese stars Jay Chou and Jolin Tsai, and others. His video "Injury of Cease-fire" (止战之殇) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSz8KTXRmvY] , an anti-war rap song originally performed by Jay Chou, has been seen more than 4 million times on the Chinese video-sharing sites zh icon cite web | url = http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_cf00XMTIzMzA0NzY=.html | title = Injury of Cease-fire on Youku | publisher = Youku ] .

Personal life

Honglaowai's personal life details, including his real name have not been confirmed, because he protects his identity. It is known that he lives in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, is 26 years old zh icon cite web | url = http://i.cn.yahoo.com/honglaowai/blog/p_668/ | title = All Newyorkers Live Like Lei Feng! (Honglaowai's Blog) ] , and currently works at a Wall Street firm. His videos often feature buildings and streets situated in New York, such as the World Trade Center site.

On his blog, and in his interviews, he states that he has learned Chinese by himself, and that he has not been to Mainland China yet. The Honglaowai has blogged that he would set foot on Mainland China the first time on Friday, the 13th of June, 2008. He was interviewed by Youku a week after arriving and claimed to have performed a Cultural Revolution "Loyal to Mao" dance on a busy street in Shanghai.

Popular Perception

Despite the controversies that Honglaowai has created, he remains popular with the public in China. The media has described his audience as thinking of him as "cute" and "handsome". His fans have set up several fan websites and pages dedicated to him zh icon cite web | title = QQ Fan Page | url = http://group.qq.com/group_index.shtml?groupid=53359626 ] .

ee also

*Internet celebrity
*YouTube celebrities
*Back Dorm Boys
*Shi Hengxia

References

External links

*zh icon [http://blog.sina.com.cn/honglaowai2008 Blog at Sina]
*zh icon [http://www.tudou.com/home/honglaowai Vlog at Tudou]
*zh icon [http://u.youku.com/user_show/id_5912714.html Vlog at Youku]
* [http://www.youtube.com/honglaowai Vlog at Youtube]
*zh icon [http://www.56.com/h70/u_honglaowai.html Vlog at 56]
*zh icon [http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kw=%BA%EC%C0%CF%CD%E2 Baidu Tieba] Discussion page for Honglaowai on Baidu