Word: pop
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Zhang Shuang, a cheerful twenty-something from Liaoning, China, isn't typical pop-star material. She doesn't sing or dance or suffer wardrobe malfunctions. Her principal talent, to which she has devoted her life, is playing the pipa, a lutelike Chinese instrument more at home in Peking opera than Top-40 countdowns. Growing up, Zhang was realistic about how far that specialty might take her. "I thought that if I was lucky," she says, "I could join a traditional ensemble and do some teaching on the side...
...time when Chinese-made products are seizing global markets, the 12 Girls Band has become the mainland's first pop-musical export. The Sino-Japanese balance of cultural trade used to be decidedly in Japan's favor. Although Chinese youth followed Japanese TV dramas and pop idols, the straitlaced mainland entertainment industry offered little in exchange. But today, the 12 Girls Band (which actually numbers 13, including one alternate) is ubiquitous in Japan. They star in commercials for chocolate and cell phones, comedians parody them on TV, and in what may be the most compelling proof of their fame, there...
...Elegantly draped in flowing dresses and sporting flight-attendant smiles that never flicker, the 12 women breeze their way through easy-listening instrumental stylings of everything from Japanese pop songs to Chinese folk favorites and American jazz standards. The group's composer and arranger, Liang Jianfeng, says their sound "combines the best elements of Chinese and Western music." In practice, that means retaining just enough Chinese flavor to create an exotic sheen without alienating listeners unaccustomed to the moan of the erhu (a two-stringed fiddle) or the plink of the pipa. The finished product is about as Chinese...
...most popular athletes are now picked by the free market. Liu Xuan, a pert gold medalist at the Games in Sydney, works as a model and starred as a plucky migrant worker in a movie called Far from Home. Fellow gymnast Li Xiaoshuang has recorded an album of pop ditties. Fu Mingxia, the legendary diver who first struck gold as a teddy-bear-carrying 13-year-old in Barcelona, has appeared on Sprite cans. "Sports is an industry now," says Guo, declining like a seasoned pro to discuss the details of her endorsement contracts. "It's another example...
...Australia and East Timor were at war over territory, the conflict would be called asymmetric. East Timor (pop. 800,000) is one of the world's poorest countries; its neighbor Australia (pop. 20 million) is among the richest. In their efforts to negotiate a permanent legal fence in the Timor Sea, the difference in firepower and tactics could hardly be greater. It is as if a small guerrilla force was facing an opponent that could call in air strikes at any moment. So far, the engagement has produced only bad blood and rancor...