China's youngsters vie for future stardom
By Zhang Yu (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-02-16 07:31

With stardust in their eyes, Li Peng and his mother Liu Ming arrived in Beijing from Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning Province, last Monday, when most people were still immersed in the happy atmosphere of Spring Festival.

Students throng the Fuhua International Conference Centre in Weifang, East China's Shandong Province, on February 6 to attend the enrolment exams of arts academies in Shandong. Some 100,000 students are expected to attend exams in the province in the coming month. [newsphoto]

It took them five visits to cheap hotels before they were able to find a basement room.

They have not come to Beijing for budget-sightseeing, however.

They have joined the throngs of tens of thousands of teenagers, along with their parents, who have come to Beijing to take a series of auditions for enrolment into performing arts programmes at leading arts colleges in the country.

These include the Beijing Film Academy, Central Drama Academy, Beijing Dance Academy and Central Conservatory of Music.

The film and drama academies are particularly popular with the young people who aspire to join the ranks of star alumni including Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige.

So many teenagers, or their parents, share the dream that the basement hotels near the film and drama academies completely fill up each year.

"I just finished the first round of auditions," Li, a handsome boy in his third year of senior high school, said on Sunday.

According to the latest report, approximately 15,000 students, coming from all across the country, registered for preliminary auditions at the film academy this year, a record high since the academy's founding in 1950.

There are three rounds for the audition. Some 2,000, or 1.3 per cent, entered the second round of auditions yesterday. The last round will take place at least one week later.

Different tactics

Li and his mother felt lucky to be able to get the small room at the cost of 60 yuan (US$7.40) per day in the stuffy basement.

Liu, Li's mother, told China Daily that she planned a budget of 3,000 yuan (US$370) for their trip to Beijing.

"But now I have to add 1,000 or 2,000 yuan (US$123 to 246) to pay for the unexpected in Beijing, and you never know beforehand."

Liu said they needed to spend money on such items as a basin for washing the face and bus fare. In addition, the registration for all three rounds of auditions costs about 300 yuan (US$37).

Is it worthwhile spending some 5,000 yuan (US$616) to accompany her son to the auditions in Beijing?

"Of course," said Liu, an office worker in her early 40s. "Bringing my son to the audition in Beijing is to realize my lost dream to some extent."

When Liu was in college, she said nearly all her teachers and classmates thought that she looked quite like a well-known Chinese actress. They all believed that it was a pity she didn't get a chance to try an acting career. That pity has been nagging her for years.

When her son was old enough, she started to send him to a local youth centre to receive some training in performing arts. Later, her son was selected to perform in some plays at school.

"I keep encouraging him to learn how to perform and practise on the real stage," Liu said.

Her son, however, didn't show much interest in acting.

"I have no time to watch films because of my heavy homework," Li said. "I don't have any film star as my role model, to be frank."

Despite his lukewarm interest, he is giving film stardom a try. "I will try my best since it's a way to enter college," Li said. "My mother told me if I try this time, I will have nothing to regret in the future, even if I fail."

Unlike Li, Wang Long from Jinan, East China's Shandong Province, calls himself a great film fan.

The young man in the third year of senior high school has come to Beijing for the auditions at the film academy to realize his own dream of becoming a famous Chinese actor. "I am longing to enter the film academy so that I can get professional training in films," Wang said.

Among Wang's iconic film stars are Chen Daoming, Zhao Wei and Lu Yi.

His mother, who works for the railway but declined to give her name, recalled how her son was intrigued the first time he learned acting in a local youth club.

"I didn't know why," Wang laughed. "I just liked it."

Wang's mother said besides academic studies and stage training, her son watches a lot of films and has developed a hobby to collect film DVDs. "Teachers said he has that gift, so I support him to have a try here," said the mother.

In Wang's eyes, the Chinese film industry has entered a transitional period.

"Chinese film needs a brand-new generation of actors and actresses and more and more people will be needed to push Chinese films forward," said Wang.

"I want to become a future film star, and I hope to be a star before I reach 25," Wang emphasized, adding that one is a liar if he says he comes to the film academy not cherishing the dream of fame. A star does not simply have a beautiful face but also has excellent skills to convey a wonderful character, he added.

"I know to become a film star is not that easy," Wang said. "It takes performing skills, knowledge and insight, and indispensably good luck."

If bad luck falls on him, Wang said, he will still be content to be an actor, minus the fame and fortune. "A good film cannot be produced without common performers," he said.

Besides, many obscure performers help lay the foundation for stars, like those in Stephen Chou's films, he pointed out.

"We parents respect our child's own choice," Wang's mother said. "If he feels good to learn performing arts, so do we."

To boost his chances of entering the film industry, Wang also signed up for the drama academy.

In fact, it is not unusual for the aspiring teenagers to register at more than one college.

Zhang, a tall, slim girl, registered at three different colleges in the hope of getting a higher chance for enrolment. Besides the film academy, the other two are the Beijing Dance Academy and the Central University for Nationalities.

Unlike Li and Wang, Zhang, also in the third year of high school, hopes to enrol in the Beijing Dance Academy. She signed up for auditions at the film academy mainly to enrich her experience in auditions.

"I've learned a lot from the auditions at the film academy, and this will definitely help me with my later auditions for dancing in other colleges," said Zhang.

Zhang Yang has practised folk dancing in her hometown in Northwest China's Gansu Province for over 10 years. Now she said it was time for her to turn herself from an amateur to a professional dancer.

Zhang's mother, who is a folk opera actress, is very generous at helping her daughter attempt to realize her dream. She set aside 20,000 yuan (US$2,466) for this trip alone.

"The cost is not that much, for it includes over a month's lodging and board for two, the money to bring my daughter's dancing coach to Beijing, and the fees of renting a dance room for my daughter's daily practice," she said.

She has to pay 50 yuan (US$6.2) per hour to rent a dance room for her daughter.

"Usually, she needs at least three to four hours of practice every day during the one-month long stay in Beijing," Zhang's mother said.

It's common for parents to bring a coach with their child when going for auditions in other cities, said Zhang's mother. "I've met other parents who bring musical instrument coaches with their children to Beijing," she said.

"Every parent has great expectations for the child. If our child has some gift, we are willing to help her develop it as much as we can afford to do so."

None of the students can guarantee they will succeed in their first try to enter the film academy. It's the second time for Chen Xue, a 17-year-old girl from Southwest China's Sichuan Province, to audition.

Last year, she succeeded in passing three rounds of auditions and the following academic test, but the final enrolment list didn't include her name.

Chen didn't give up and is trying again. She has returned to live in a basement hotel together with her mother to prepare for the coming audition.

Chen holds a strong belief that "those who succeed in enrolling aren't necessarily the best while those who fail aren't necessarily inferior."

The first impression is rather important in the audition, said Chen, since each judge has his or her own taste for beauty and performance.

"It's hard to control the taste of judges," she said. "What I can do is to present my true self."

Tip of the pyramid

Cui Xinqin, professor from the Beijing Film Academy, warned that the competition is cut-throat.

"As far as the acting department of our academy is concerned, only 30 lucky students out of the 5,000 applicants can be finally enrolled to study for a bachelor's degree in film performing arts."

But parents seem blind to the disheartening figure and spare no pains in encouraging their child, most of them from single-child families, to compete with thousands of peers for the elusive dream of stardom.

With improved living standards and enriched cultural life, more children have the chance to develop their artistic talents than ever before. What's more, media hype of celebrities sparks more parents' dreams of making their children stars by sending them to art colleges like the Beijing Film Academy.

But the training of an excellent performer is "as difficult as training an astronaut," Cui said.

Film stars are always like the top of a pyramid, and most performers belong to the base of the pyramid, said Cui.

"What's worrisome is that most parents see the top of the pyramid, but neglect its base," Cui said.

By the time the paper went to press, China Daily was unable to reach the interviewees to learn about their results of the first and second rounds of auditions.

(China Daily 02/16/2006 page14)