Chloe Wang wakes up early to her usual cup of coffee and begins her intensive Chinese class conducted by her live-in language tutor. Later, she rushes to a photo-shoot in Beijing’s Sanlitun district and strikes a pose for a fashion magazine.
“Chloe, you must be more cheerful,” yells photographer Mei Le. “One, two, three, jump!” And the 17-year-old American dutifully leaps in the air.
Wang, who is being groomed to become a Chinese pop star, is one of a rising number of foreigners making an impression in China.
She is sweating profusely after the three-hour magazine shoot. As soon as it’s over, though, she rushes to a dance studio to practise the new moves for a music video. The studio is a mass of dancers, rhythm and movement. Wang shows great skill in picking up every beat and is a stand-out, with her tanned skin and long thin legs.
As night falls, she goes back to her apartment, turning on her computer and talking to her fans on the Internet. She posts her stories and photos on her blog, sometimes using Chinese. Her Chinese fans might correct her grammatical mistakes and in return she charms them with tales of her American school life.
Such has been Wang’s hectic schedule since she came to China at the beginning of this year. She has already released a single, Uh Oh, which was recorded in both English and Chinese. Wang admits she had problems pronouncing some Chinese words, despite her heritage— her father is from Shanghai.
A typical Caucasian face is easier for Chinese audiences to remember among foreign performers and their international background gives them more credibility here.
Peter Coquillard, Wang’s US manager, had experience of working with Chinese pop singers and was confident she would succeed in this market.
Coquillard, who produced Super Girl winner Chris Lee’s second album Mine, says: “We hadn’t done this before. We found Chloe in the US but wanted her to start here. If we succeed, it will open the Chinese market for more foreign entertainers.”
Accompanying Wang in China is her manager here, Tinnie Chow, who is organising her schedule and handling her business affairs.
Another is Japanese entertainer Takuya Komatsu, 32, who recently flew to Shanghai to open a fashion store. He spoke fluent Chinese, interacted with his fans and sang two songs.
Komatsu first went to Shanghai two years ago to expand his singing and modeling career. Now he has a TV programme on Dragon TV, where he introduces Japanese pop music to Chinese viewers, and has signed a modeling contract with a magazine.
Komatsu says Dragon TV’s American-Idol-style My Hero show was a turning point for him, winning him a devoted set of fans and convincing him to launch his career here.
When the male fashion magazine Leon launched a Chinese edition in March, Komatsu was picked for one of its photo-shoots. He credits his unusual appearance with his break. “Although I am an Asian, I look a little bit Western so people easily remember my face,” he says.
The hottest foreign model currently in Beijing is Dominic Lung Tang, who works at the Pure Fashion agency. Tang, whose 190cm height suggests he is a typical European but is actually half-German and half-Chinese, credits his success to his experience on the catwalks of Milan and New York.
“Foreign singers who come to China have their advantages, but they also have difficulties,” says Reaf Zhang, music editor at Hit FM. “First, you have to get used to Chinese culture and language, then come the other pressures.”
Zhang had contact with dozens of foreign singers, who signed contracts with local promoters and sought to make a name for themselves here but said they mostly struggled.
Wang, Komatsu and Tang all worried about the language barrier before coming to China and all are still studying. Wang, however, is boldly trying to use the language to get closer to her Chinese fans?—her single, Uh Oh, was sung in both English and Chinese.
All claim, in Tang’s words, to feel “a lot of connection with this country”.
Wang, whose grandmother was a fashion reporter at the New York Times, sports a streetwise look, with her black eyelashes, short skirts and leather jackets. “I learned this from my grandmother, as well as her bravery, independence, and care for others,” she says.
Although she knew little about China before the Beijing Olympics, Wang showed great interest in her ancestral home once she arrived and her mixed background helped her. “People regarded me as a foreigner here and remembered me easily but I’m still half-Chinese and that helped with the language and I learned it quickly,” she says, clearly delighted with her progress.
Now, Wang is producing her first album in China and is determined to succeed here.
When Komatsu was young, he learned some Chinese from her mother. She died when he was 14 years old and three years later, he met a manager who had the same name as her. “The first thing she asked me was whether I was interested in going to China to be an entertainer. I thought that would be great and immediately accepted.”
Komatsu could not get used to the relaxed schedule here. “I used to work at Japanese music companies,” he says. “We had very tight schedules and stuck to them strictly but that was not the case here.”
Komatsu also hopes to get involved in movies and TV series. “Many blockbusters are shot by both Chinese and Japanese, in which I think I can play a role,” he says.
Tang, meanwhile, is helping to build up a network for foreign models in Beijing.
They are three careers on the rise. If they are anything to go by, many more will follow, also seeking a piece of China’s entertainment industry pie.
