Eason Chan Europe Tour 2010

Eason Chan, a prominent singer in Hong Kong, Mainland and Taiwan’s music industry, held his concert tour in the UK in May. Eason Chan has been praised by Time magazine as a front-runner in the next generation of Cantopop. He also won lots of major music awards in mainland China, such as the “Best Male Singer” and the Best Album of the Year”. His music talent is shown by playing a variety of musical instrument as well, such as piano, violin, harmonica, bass, drums and guitar. He writes songs sometimes for his albums. Chan studied in the UK from 12, and graduated from Kinston University with an architecture degree.

On 3 May, 2010, Chan held his first stop of Europe Tour 2010 in London at the Royal Albert Hall. During the concert, he performed Cantonese songs, Mandarin songs, English songs and Japanese songs. As having a show in Royal Albert Hall, he performed an Italian opera song as well. He is the second Chinese artist to perform at this stage. His second show was held in Manchester at The Apollo on 6 May, 2010.

Eason Chan gave thanks to his audience at Royal Albert Hall

Over 5,000 Chinese students attended his concert, and felt happy to see their idol.

Here is a feature about Eason Chan and his Europ Tour, Time flies.
Join the Facebook group to discuss his concerts.

Did you go to the concert? Did you enjoy it? Which is your favourite song?

National mourning for the Qinghai earthquake

China marked a day of national mourning for the victims of last week’s earthquake in Yushu, as the death from the disaster rose to above 2,000.

Flags flew at half across China and at its overseas embassies, marking one week since the disaster struck. All public entertainment, including live sports and entertainment programmes on national television and internet games were be suspended for 24 hours.

Three minutes of silence was observed in Qinghai province, where the 7.1 magnitude earthquake occurred.

Have you been to Yushu before? Do you know any related stories about this earthquake?

The changing lifestyle

When you have been studying in the UK for a while, your lifestyle will be influenced somehow. Here are some comment changes generated from a group of UK Chinese students.

Before studied in the UK	When study in the UK	During holiday in China
slept at 11p.m	chat with friends online or write essays until 2a.m	I sleep less in order to spend more time together with family and friends
I liked eating KFC, McDonald, beefsteak and everything from abroad	eat potatoes,cold dishes, sandwiches, and pastas	only like the home-cooked dishes
tried the most popular western hairstyle	do not have hair cut so often, or cut the hair by myself sometimes	no matter which kind of hairstyles,it is never expensive than a crew cut in the UK
was a proud owner of an HP computer	use three-inch SONY, which is small and handy	bring an Apple Mac back
used Renren.com (Chinese social networking site)	use Facebook	Facebook is blocked
always disagreed and quarreled with parents, and complained everything	only tell good news to parents to release their worrieshave not celebrated Chinese New Year with family for many years	it is a pleasure to celebrate festivals together with parents
liked drinking Fanta, Coke, and Sprite	bought Green tea from Chinatown	like all kinds of Chinese tea
said“Hello”, “Thank you”, and“Bye-bye” to foreign friends	used to say “How are you doing”, “Cheers” and “See ya” all the time	speak in Chinese mixed with English

Have you been changed as well? Share you experience with us!

Stories from other viewpoints

Due to problems exist among Chinese international students, most reports of them by Chinese media are negative in. As a result, nowadays, this community group is stereotyped as rich and extravagant, lonely and selfish, ignoramus and irresponsible. These students born after 1980’s are regarded as the “lost generation”. However, this kind of judgement is only one-sided. Actually, there are still a large percent of Chinese students have become mature and aspiring during the period in the UK. They have done lots of meaningful things as well. In the previous articles, we discussed the phenomenon of gambling and luxury. This time, I’d like to share some stories that touched my heart.

Story 1
My friend Liang Liu attended the graduation ceremony of the University of Warwick in January, and told me an impressive story. In the ceremony, Warwick announced that it was to establish a special scholarship fund in honour of Li Xiaoming. Li was killed in Haiti while serving as a Chinese peacekeeper on 12 January, and he was due to be awarded his degree at the ceremony on 21 January.

Warwick’s Vice-Chancellor, Nigel Thrift, said: “The sudden death of a student brings great sadness to all those who knew them. Xiaoming was a compassionate, kind and caring individual, dedicated to his peace­keeping work and with many friends both inside and outside the University. Our thoughts are with Xiaoming’s family and friends at this sad time.”

Story 2
In the December of 2009, Lenovo’s held a Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge in China, and finally ten teams won 100,000 yuan as prize. One of the team is different, as it is consisted of Chinese overseas students. Their project is called Uni-union, aiming to establish an interactive platform for Chinese university students to share academic resources. At the same time, 80 per cent of the advertising income will be donated to the children living in the remote villages in China.

David Chang, the founder of the project from the Imperial Collage, explained his idea that “ I know many Chinese students cannot access to an efficient platform where provide enough information to meet their needs for both study research and interest development. I want to take advantages of Social Networking services, and contact the worldwide famous universities, institutions and organizations to help Chinese students build an academic social network online.” Ming Luo, the captain of the team is studying in the Cambridge University added, “Charity is another important aspect of our project. The education conditions and facilities in some rural areas in China are still very poor. I hope I could make some contributions to those children who cannot have the equal education as me.”

Story 3
In May 2009, the two confirmed cases of H1N1 flu on the Chinese mainland were both overseas students who came home on vacation, raising worries that the return of more students will increase the risk of the virus spreading to the mainland. Online debates have raged over whether it was right for a 19-year-old student Lu from a Canadian university to expose potential victims to the virus. Some Chinese netizens even criticized that these international students are lack of civic responsibilities and moral standards. Many overseas students felt angry and upset about these comments.

Though Chinese were a bit over-reacted about H1N1, many Chinese students studying overseas  delayed their trips back to China. Simon Zhang delayed his plans to go back Beijing from London, he said “We are in the flu-affected area, being more cautious is the right thing to do. I want to be responsible to our motherland and to my family.”

Story 4
2008 was a year that many significant things happened in China. Because the related actions taken by overseas students, from then on, previous negative attitudes towards these young people has started to change. When the Olympic flame arrived in London in April of 2008, thousands of Chinese students greeted and guarded the Olympic torch. When the Sichuan earthquake happened, Chinese students in London organized the activity to donate money and mourned for victims. The total amount of money collected from the UK was nearly 1.5 million pounds. Faced with the argument about do not love China, overseas students proved their patriotic minds.

Chinese students attended the Olympic Torch Relay in London

Chinese students mourned for earthquake victims

Students made a Chinese map by candles and sent flowers

I hope these four stories can present another aspect of Chinese students life in the UK, and the long-existing misunderstanding of them could be reduced.

Education as luxury

Chinese in the LV shop in Selfridges

According to the World Luxury Association, free-spending Chinese pushed the country past the United States last year as the world’s second-largest consumer of luxury goods, taking up 27.5 per cent of the global market. In the global luxury industry, China is the hero at the moment. Similarly, in the UK market, a large amount of Chinese students are luxury consumers.

A Chinese newspaper in the UK reported that in recent years, Chinese students are filled with luxury trend. They buy LV, GUCCI as school bags, they drive BENZ or BMW, and they go to major shopping centres with VIP credit card. This seems more like a British version of Gossip Girl, but actors are replaced by Chinese.

Angel, a Chinese girl just over 20 years old, studying at the London College of Fashion, bought a house located at the Barker Street in the early of this year. Angel paid three million pounds in cash. When she entered the estate, the staff thought the young girl was crazy. Until she took out the deposit, the estate realised this was one of largest deals they made this year. Angel’s father is a famous entertainer in China.

Maybe Angel’s story is just a special case, but buying luxury cars is popular among Chinese students. A manager of a car company in London said, “Just a few days ago, an Chinese student only came to the UK for one month bought a new BMW. Some Chinese students even choose Ferrairi or Porsche.” He explained that even middle class in Britain paid as loan or instalments, but Chinese always purchased with full payment.

Having luxury handbags, shoes and clothes are much more common. Usually, the exclusive shops of  famous brand are full of Chinese students. British consumers were found more rational than the Chinese. I am curious about what are the motives of purchasing luxuries for Chinese students.

In the first place, it cannot be deny that luxury goods follow latest fashionable style and have high quality. It is a way to reflect lifestyle and taste. What’s more, the price of luxury goods in the UK is less expensive than in China. For example, the price of LV in Bicester Village is 40% cheaper than in China. With the decrease of the exchange rate between pounds and yuan, it is more valuable to buy branded products in the UK.

Beyond these points, many Chinese overseas students are referred as “the second-generation rich”. Generally, these students are from rich families in China that can afford expensive costs in the UK. Some of them form a small group that compare and show off the luxury products with each other.  Someone bought a LV limited edition, other one will carry a new GUCCI. Even certain students from normal families skip classes because they want to go work and make money in order to buy luxury things.

“Luxury” has become a label of Chinese overseas students. People have different attitudes towards luxury consuming. Some criticise these young people just waste money, while some think this behaviour is not a big deal.

Are you in favour of luxury goods as well? What is your opinion?

Gambling addiction

As the craze interest of studying abroad, the age of Chinese international students becomes younger. The mental health issues associated with young students are crucial. Gambling is a typical problem of certain Chinese overseas students.

In 2008, the news about a couple of Chinese students were killed in Newcastle shocked both Britain and China. According to the UK police’s inspection, these two victims might have been involved in an international football Internet betting scam. Actually, I heard about many gambling stories from Chinese friends, and this is a really serious phenomenon in the UK.

A casino near China Town with Chinese slogan

Steven Wei told me that two of his friends study in the Lancaster University keep gambling. “They drive to the casino in Blackpool every Friday, it is like a routine thing for them. Sometimes they go there twice a week. Usually, they spend 3,000  to 4,000 pounds for gambling once a time.” Another story is about a Chinese guy betting on basketball and football, he once earned 7,000 pounds, but has lost 5,000 pounds at a time as well. “If you go inside any casino in Leicester Square in London, it is full of Chinese students,” Wei said. He also talked about his opinion towards gambling. “ Some people just try it for fun, it is a different experience and may meet different friends.    However, if you are addicted to it, it will not only         
affect studies, but also waste money from parents.”

In terms of gambling, the house always wins. In China, we said that if you try ten times, you would definitely lose nine. What are the factors cause Chinese international students, a special community, addict to gambling?

On the one side, gambling itself is a speculation—the price of high return is high risk.  People hold the beliefs of luck and perseverance. Once you won some, you have the illusion of control and look for more.  On the other side, we have to consider the situation of Chinese students. There is no doubt that loneliness is the most common feeling of Chinese students in the UK. They are far away from family and friends, and havn’t build up good friendship with native people, some students go to casino to spend time and reduce loneliness. In addition, faced with high pressure of study in the university, and unrespectable difficulties of living in a foreign country, gambling is regarded as an exciting activity to release anxiety. Some students even give up their studies and use up all tuition fees for gambling. For these young people, they still lack of the money and time management abilities, and cannot resist the temptation.

Casino Empire attracts Chinese people

However, quit gambling is not as easy task. Parents should pay enough attention to their children’s mental health, but not only supporting money. These students have to think about the consequences of their actions, and find  something else to do immediately.  Healthier habits could be developed such as travel and sports. Meanwhile, they have to try to make friends with people from different countries and attend regular lectures and activities.

In London, the Chinese Mental Health Association has started the “Chinese GamCare Project” to offer support to people with a gambling addication. About this project, there is a short film clip called Take A Chance .

Is gambling a problem of your friend? What is your opinion about gambling?