The eight ladies lining as much as take questions included a pediatrician, a authorized assistant and a piano trainer.
But standing on stage of their bikinis on the River Rock Casino in Richmond, B.C., they’d one purpose — to develop into the subsequent Miss Chinese Vancouver.
The reputation of the 27-year-old pageant is a testomony to each the continued lure of superstar in Hong Kong and Chinese present enterprise, and what one skilled referred to as the “aura” surrounding Chinese Canadian entertainers throughout the Pacific.
Vancouver has lengthy served as a expertise supply for the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese leisure scenes, and the mutual attraction persists despite current political tensions over the crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong and allegations of Chinese political interference in Canada.
Dance trainer Yi Yi Wang, 19, who was introduced the winner of the pageant on Dec. 3, hopes to develop into an actor and environmental activist.
Far from being deterred by political tensions, Wang thinks her schooling on the University of British Columbia, the place she is finding out for a level in worldwide relations, could be was a bonus within the Chinese movie business. She’s additionally open to alternatives within the West.
“I am someone who grew up in China and studied in Vancouver, so I am very aware of both cultures and don’t think there is a conflict in me pursuing entertainment anywhere else because my final goal is to connect people from all over the world together,” stated Wang, who began collaborating in pageants on the age of 15.
The pageant, organized by Fairchild TV, performs a key function in figuring out expertise for Chinese-language present enterprise. Past winners who discovered fame and careers in Hong Kong as singers or actors embody Bernice Liu who received in 2000, Eliza Sam who received in 2009, 2011’s Erica Chui, and 2012’s Gloria Tang.
All went on to be topped Miss Chinese International in Hong Kong, a title that has been held by at the very least six Vancouverites and two from Toronto, in response to TVB, the Hong Kong tv community that organizes the pageant. Miss Chinese International winners are provided contracts with TVB.
Wang stated she additionally has her sights set on the Miss Chinese International title.
“For now, I would like to continue my work as Miss Chinese Vancouver to represent the city by doing more volunteering work and giving back to my local community,” she stated.
University of B.C. musicologist Dr. Hedy Law stated would-be Chinese-Canadian idols profit from what Chinese and Hong Kong audiences perceived as their “sophistication.”
“They are taller, beautiful and they speak English so well. Many people (in China and Hong Kong) feel: ‘wow, they are just so fantastic,’” stated Law, an affiliate professor on the School of Music at UBC who not too long ago helped manage a Cantopop, or Cantonese pop music, tune contest for college kids.
“There is a kind of an aura around the Chinese Canadians and sometimes, even though their Cantonese and Mandarin are not that perfect, or even a bit off, people still find them very cute and attractive.”
Hong Kong leisure loved sturdy connections to Vancouver within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties, when stars equivalent to Cantopop idol and actor Leslie Cheung moved to Canada, however Law stated the hyperlink dates again a lot additional.
Law stated a “transpacific entertainment network” existed among the many Chinese-speaking diaspora a century in the past.
“When you talk about the entertainment industry, you need to remember: the entertainment industry always follows the community,” stated Law.
Laws traced the connections again to the Twenties when Cantonese-speaking musicians from Hong Kong and Guangzhou in southern China would journey by ship to carry out in Vancouver, the place their musical abilities bloomed.
She stated the phenomenon persists, with Hong Kong music business figures travelling to Vancouver to each take in the native leisure tradition and share their information. Hong Kong acts proceed to take pleasure in sturdy assist when touring to Vancouver, Law stated.
Cantopop boy band Mirror was in Vancouver this month to advertise the brand new season of King Maker, a actuality TV present that seeks to establish Chinese pop idols from amongst a gaggle of North American contestants, many from Vancouver.
“It’s not surprising to see Mirror coming to town because we have the audiences here and we always have the entertainment business network,” stated Law.
“What we see now is basically the continuation of the same kind of network.”
Queen’s University medical science graduate Renee Jan was first runner-up on this 12 months’s Miss Chinese Vancouver pageant.
She hopes to signal with an leisure firm to additional a music profession.
She’s extra frightened about how her Mandarin will arise in a Chinese atmosphere than political considerations. Mandarin is especially spoken in mainland China, whereas Cantonese predominates in Hong Kong.
“If (my career) is in Asia, I feel like I would have a little bit of a harder time because of my Mandarin,” stated Jan.
She stated she additionally worries about leaving household and pals behind in Canada.
Not all of the Miss Chinese Vancouver contestants see a future in present enterprise.
Second runner-up Dr. Nicole Tanner, 27, was a pediatrician in Hong Kong, the place she additionally carried out standup comedy. She managed to mix each fields in a public consciousness marketing campaign about colon most cancers, during which she dressed up in “poo” costume.
As a lot as she loves being on stage, Tanner’s subsequent purpose is to get a medical licence in Canada. She immigrated simply three months in the past and has no fast plans to return to Hong Kong.
What if somebody provided her a multimillion-dollar showbiz contract in China or Hong Kong?
“It’s not about the money,” stated Tanner. “It’s more about what I think fulfills you, and for me, the most important thing is I go to work every day happy, and I wake up every morning excited to go to work. And that’s what being a pediatrics doctor has given me, so I could never give that up.”
Tanner, whose mom Maur Yeung was a Miss Hong Kong contestant in 1991, stated she joined the Vancouver pageant for the problem and to make pals.
Law stated the Hong Kong and Chinese leisure industries have been “cautious and alert” to geopolitical adjustments.
“You don’t follow the music to understand the politics. You always understand the politics and then you see what kind of impact it has on the culture, including the music,” stated Law. “What I have discovered is that the industry professionals are even more alert than consumers about what they produce.”
She stated the transpacific leisure business connections would persist, no matter any tensions.
“You know, some of my students told me that their parents immigrated here in the 1980s and 1990s. They grew up listening to Leslie Chueng even though they didn’t speak the language,” stated Law, including that the music created an intergenerational bond.
“The community is not fading, it’s not declining. It’s actually expanding.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Dec. 17, 2022.
This story was produced with the monetary help of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.