Buena Vista

Trip Start Jun 03, 2006
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Trip End Ongoing


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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

I have to say that I'd never heard of Patricio Buane before, but I was impressed.  It was not so much the fact that the guy can sing, but more the friendly yet professional fashion in which he dealt with a slightly perplexed Chinese audience who didn't really know when to get excited or how to appreciate his smooth patter and links.  On this count neither audience or singer were helped by some pretty bizarre translation, but accurate translation of Western cultural references is never easy for Chinese.  Watching the performance you could see him adjust what he was doing and the way he communicated with the audience so that by the end of the hour he had transformed what began rather stiffly into the relaxed outdoor concert that had been promoted. Was it professionalism or just a natural talent? I'm not sure, but he certainly did a good job and worked very, very hard. I felt sorry for him as it seemed that nobody had warned him that wearing a black turtle neck sweater outside during a Guangdong July is a recipe for serious discomfort 01, MT in CP Lobby
01, MT in CP Lobby
 . The guy was absolutely dripping but he even managed to do that with a certain degree of style! 

No less impressive than the performance were the surroundings of Buena Vista. It is another of the visionary/eccentric projects (time will tell) of the city's OCT Holdings Company. On a hill a significant distance from the downtown area they have built a replica of a Spanish hillside village. Each property is styled as a small villa, and they are tightly packed together. The properties are mind-blowingly expensive by local standards, and what people are paying for is exclusivity, access to the sumptuous "clubhouses", and total isolation from the local community. Buena Vista village has it's own private access road to the nearest expressway tollgate. It is seriously impressive and a performance as assured as Buane's was certainly not out of place. On a clear, warm evening, it was a wonderful setting. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, but not for the first time in China there was a twinge of guilt and discomfort. Here were a group of obscenely rich people with very close political connections, not only enjoying the fruits of their business efforts but ostentatiously flaunting their wealth. All around beautiful Buena Vista, I knew only too well that there were the rows of dirty factories, cramped dormitories, brothels and people living under bridges that make up the lives of the migratory workers whose cheap labour has driven the growth of China's economy. I had a great time, but....
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