When my mom attends Chinese events, she usually drags me along with her, and I always go very reluctantly. Today it was a concert (called “China Tour 2010,” I think). I love the refined atmosphere of classical concerts - the tuxes, the silence that the audience tries so hard to maintain - so when I attend Chinese concerts, I’m sometimes a little appalled at how rude Chinese audiences can be.
Once I get over myself, it’s all really entertaining. While a violinist tonight was in the middle of some Sarasate, the cell phone of an old woman in the second row rang (probably her granddaughter’s old phone or something, I think the ring tone was Miley Cyrus), and after rummaging through her handbag to find it, she promptly answered the call. People around her definitely stared for a bit, but after she finished the call, she looked completely unabashed. Old Chinese women are hilarious. Then, someone in the audience started whistling - quite audibly - the accompaniment to one of the familiar Chinese pieces. And the audience just started laughing.
Best part? The guy playing the traditional Chinese flute was a dead ringer for Wen Jiabao (the Chinese Premier). He and the group (there was a pipa, erhu, guzheng, and some pipe thing) played the best rendition of “Jingle Bells” that I’ve ever heard.
