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Carrying a guitar and a hefty loudspeaker, Mumu (whose real name is Li Zhengwen) can be seen walking on the streets and through the alleyways of Beijing, an unfamiliar city to this 22-year-old girl from central China. When finding a clean place on a corner, overpasses or underpass, she settles in before pulling out her guitar to belt out some pop tunes. Before long, Mumu draws the attention of curious, sympathetic or indifferent passersby.
There are hundreds of street singers like Mumu—along with painters and singers—who perform on Beijing streets for a living. These buskers play a big role in the capital’s modern street culture. They are popular among young people for their entertainment value, but their eccentric behavior draws the scorn of chengguan—urban management officers tasked with maintaining public order.
Mumu was born to an average family in Ruijin, a city in central China’s Jiangxi Province. This summer, Mumu came to Beijing to begin a three-year master’s program in teaching Chinese to non-native speakers at the Capital Normal University.
Mumu does not exactly make a living as a busker, but freely performs in public out of a sheer passion for playing the guitar.
A star dream
Four years ago, Mumu learned to play the guitar from a senior fellow student as a freshman and regularly practices with her friends during group sessions on the street.
The guitar isn’t her only talent: She can sing too.
“I like singing—I feel free and happy,”Mumu told Beijing Review. “A singer should have an audience. I just want to present myself. I don’t mind who the audience is. So I don’t feel uncomfortable when I sing on the street for strangers. The campus and streets are my stage.”
Some buskers even become overnight stars, something Mumu finds encouraging.
Ren Yueli is one such example. Ren sang in the underpasses of Xidan in downtown Beijing for four years before becoming an online sensation in 2009 after someone uploaded a video of her singing.
Ren’s voice was immediately popular with netizens. Her talent scored her several live performance events, including the wellknown China Central Television Spring Festival Gala in 2011, which catapulted the young singer to national fame.
“Becoming famous is only a dream hidden in my heart”, Mumu said, recognizing the long and tough road ahead if she were to ever reach stardom.
“A dream is just a dream—it is not as real as my music.”
A complicated life
“To be honest, I never thought to sing for a living. My parents can afford my tuition and living expenses,” Mumu said. “But music is the most important thing in my life, and I don’t want to lose my focus.”
Her parents adamantly opposed their daughter performing on the street. “In the beginning, my parents worried that singing would affect my studies. My parents are very concerned. They believe people usually look down on a street singer.
Given that she can earn some money from singing, Mumu says making her own cash helps relieve the financial burden on her family and helps pay her tuition and living costs.
But performing on the street isn’t as easy as it looks, and initially Mumu says she was often hit with bouts of anxiety, especially when pedestrians would throw her some cash.
“I held the guitar and hesitated for quite a while before singing. I don’t like the sympathetic stares from strangers,” Mumu recalled.
Besides trying to make money, she must also cope with the various folks she encounters, never certain who she’ll meet.
Lately in Beijing, Mumu encountered a man who had for years made a living performing on the street. This man performed in some other cities as a street singer before coming to Beijing. He asked her to help him start a band together. Attracted by his ambition, Mumu researched him online only to find that he was suspected of fraud.
According to one newspaper report, the man once solicited money from the public in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi Province, claiming the funds would help pay the medical bills of his ailing teacher. An investigation by the newspaper found that the teacher did not exist.
“Street singers are mixed up with good and ill-intentioned people. I have to be aware of those who have a complicated history and background,” said Mumu.
Legal or illegal?
This summer, a group of students from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology conducted a survey on street performers in the city. The survey found that the majority of buskers were single males, between the ages of 20 and 40. More than half of them play a musical instrument, and about 20 percent of them draw portraits. Most buskers have worked on the street for three to five years and often roamed in different cities. Thirty percent of interviewees said they were forced by economic hardship to become buskers, 55 percent of them said they just like performing and do it as a part-time job, and only 15 percent of buskers said they hope to be discovered and reach stardom from their work.
Street performers may be a source of amusement, but police permission is mandatory—so as to not “disturb the public order”—before they can use their talents to earn some cash. Nonetheless, police and other public service officials often appear tolerant toward the performers, avoiding any major fuss.
Mumu has encountered her own fair share of run-ins with chengguan. “Up to now, they have been polite to me. They usually say I should pack up my guitar and return to school.”
Others see buskers as having great artistic potential.
Luo Huaizhen, a Shanghai playwright, said street performance is a great way to promote art among the public.
Hu Shoujun, a sociology professor at Fudan University, argues that the public should make a distinction between street performers and beggars. “We should give street performers more tolerance and love. They hope to illustrate their artistic ability on the street and make money through their work,”Hu said.
Currently, many Chinese cities are preparing to legislate laws to guide and protect street performance. Government officials are increasingly becoming aware that street entertainment may be a necessity. Without it, cities would lack a certain cultural and artistic flair.
“If municipal governments can establish a comprehensive system to let buskers perform in cities, we won’t have to worry about our performance being interrupted. Only then can our art flourish,” said Mumu.
There are hundreds of street singers like Mumu—along with painters and singers—who perform on Beijing streets for a living. These buskers play a big role in the capital’s modern street culture. They are popular among young people for their entertainment value, but their eccentric behavior draws the scorn of chengguan—urban management officers tasked with maintaining public order.
Mumu was born to an average family in Ruijin, a city in central China’s Jiangxi Province. This summer, Mumu came to Beijing to begin a three-year master’s program in teaching Chinese to non-native speakers at the Capital Normal University.
Mumu does not exactly make a living as a busker, but freely performs in public out of a sheer passion for playing the guitar.
A star dream
Four years ago, Mumu learned to play the guitar from a senior fellow student as a freshman and regularly practices with her friends during group sessions on the street.
The guitar isn’t her only talent: She can sing too.
“I like singing—I feel free and happy,”Mumu told Beijing Review. “A singer should have an audience. I just want to present myself. I don’t mind who the audience is. So I don’t feel uncomfortable when I sing on the street for strangers. The campus and streets are my stage.”
Some buskers even become overnight stars, something Mumu finds encouraging.
Ren Yueli is one such example. Ren sang in the underpasses of Xidan in downtown Beijing for four years before becoming an online sensation in 2009 after someone uploaded a video of her singing.
Ren’s voice was immediately popular with netizens. Her talent scored her several live performance events, including the wellknown China Central Television Spring Festival Gala in 2011, which catapulted the young singer to national fame.
“Becoming famous is only a dream hidden in my heart”, Mumu said, recognizing the long and tough road ahead if she were to ever reach stardom.
“A dream is just a dream—it is not as real as my music.”
A complicated life
“To be honest, I never thought to sing for a living. My parents can afford my tuition and living expenses,” Mumu said. “But music is the most important thing in my life, and I don’t want to lose my focus.”
Her parents adamantly opposed their daughter performing on the street. “In the beginning, my parents worried that singing would affect my studies. My parents are very concerned. They believe people usually look down on a street singer.
Given that she can earn some money from singing, Mumu says making her own cash helps relieve the financial burden on her family and helps pay her tuition and living costs.
But performing on the street isn’t as easy as it looks, and initially Mumu says she was often hit with bouts of anxiety, especially when pedestrians would throw her some cash.
“I held the guitar and hesitated for quite a while before singing. I don’t like the sympathetic stares from strangers,” Mumu recalled.
Besides trying to make money, she must also cope with the various folks she encounters, never certain who she’ll meet.
Lately in Beijing, Mumu encountered a man who had for years made a living performing on the street. This man performed in some other cities as a street singer before coming to Beijing. He asked her to help him start a band together. Attracted by his ambition, Mumu researched him online only to find that he was suspected of fraud.
According to one newspaper report, the man once solicited money from the public in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi Province, claiming the funds would help pay the medical bills of his ailing teacher. An investigation by the newspaper found that the teacher did not exist.
“Street singers are mixed up with good and ill-intentioned people. I have to be aware of those who have a complicated history and background,” said Mumu.
Legal or illegal?
This summer, a group of students from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology conducted a survey on street performers in the city. The survey found that the majority of buskers were single males, between the ages of 20 and 40. More than half of them play a musical instrument, and about 20 percent of them draw portraits. Most buskers have worked on the street for three to five years and often roamed in different cities. Thirty percent of interviewees said they were forced by economic hardship to become buskers, 55 percent of them said they just like performing and do it as a part-time job, and only 15 percent of buskers said they hope to be discovered and reach stardom from their work.
Street performers may be a source of amusement, but police permission is mandatory—so as to not “disturb the public order”—before they can use their talents to earn some cash. Nonetheless, police and other public service officials often appear tolerant toward the performers, avoiding any major fuss.
Mumu has encountered her own fair share of run-ins with chengguan. “Up to now, they have been polite to me. They usually say I should pack up my guitar and return to school.”
Others see buskers as having great artistic potential.
Luo Huaizhen, a Shanghai playwright, said street performance is a great way to promote art among the public.
Hu Shoujun, a sociology professor at Fudan University, argues that the public should make a distinction between street performers and beggars. “We should give street performers more tolerance and love. They hope to illustrate their artistic ability on the street and make money through their work,”Hu said.
Currently, many Chinese cities are preparing to legislate laws to guide and protect street performance. Government officials are increasingly becoming aware that street entertainment may be a necessity. Without it, cities would lack a certain cultural and artistic flair.
“If municipal governments can establish a comprehensive system to let buskers perform in cities, we won’t have to worry about our performance being interrupted. Only then can our art flourish,” said Mumu.