China: “Red Foreigner” Sings Red Songs Naked · Global Voices
Meng Zhang

Red songs, which mainly extol the virtues of Communist Party and patriotic sentiment, are not popular any more among the new generation of China. However, an American blogger who names himself Honglaowai (red foreigner) has revived the Chinese red songs and extensively posted his music videos on YouTube, Youku and Tudou such video sharing websites. What's more, in his red song MVs, he is naked to the waist.
Honglaowai's first red song “If There Were No Communist Party, Then There Would Be No New China”
Creating his blog in Yahoo China on November 7, which is the 90th anniversary of the October Revolution in Russia, Honglaowai described himself as “a foreign comrade living in New York“. He called Chinese comrades and quoted Mao Zedong‘s past speeches like “People, only people can be the motive power of the world history” in the Little Red Book. His half-naked performance of Chinese red songs, with Chair Mao's portrait behind him, were quickly spread on Internet and provoked a hot controversy among Chinese netizens.The voices on Honglaowai's special MVs were different from each other while some people believed to perform the classic red songs in such a strange way was improper and even insulting to China, some people just looked it as a fascinating individual show, and some others thought his red songs had been totally antiquated.
The comments in Honglaowai's blog:
作者: 刘礱
太可爱了.. 继续加油哦.. 如果来中国的话可以来找我玩哇..哈哈…
Author: Liu Long
You're so cute.. Please carry on.. If come to China, you can hang out with me..ha ha…
作者：who…
同志，你实在让我太佩服了！这么难的歌都能让你唱得有声有色，不支持不行啊！！加油！欢迎到中国来！
Author: who…
Comrade, I really admire you! You can sing such a hard song so impressively. I have no reason not to support you!! Come on! Welcome to China!
作者：嚣尘
你这个老外不了解中国~~要在中国的网络玩搞笑，扒了衣服唱些过时很久了的革命时代的歌曲是没用的…去你们的WALMAKET买件中国产的衬衫穿穿…应该比你赤膊更有效果…你是美国人…喜欢中国…不过这可不叫爱国…来中国办绿卡吧…（中国绿卡比你们国家的绿卡好办多了）当你成为中国公民的时候…你才能说自己爱中国就是爱国了… 记得…要和谐…和谐…把老外全部和谐了…那社会就和谐了…还有…开播客…是可以…千万别有一丁点侮辱中国或者中国人民的话…NEWYORK可不是中国…是能买到GUN的…要弄死你很容易。
Author: Xiao Chen
You foreigner don't know China~~If you meant to make spoof on China's Internet, it's useless to take clothes off and sing some really out-of-date songs of the revolutionary era….Go to your WALMAKET to buy a made-in-China shirt and put it on….it must be more effective than being half-naked…. You are American…likes China….but that can't be regarded as patriotic…Come to China to apply for the green card…(to get green card in China is much easier than in your country) When you become a Chinese citizen..then you can say your love of China is patriotism…. Keep that in your mind… we need harmony…harmony…When all the foreigners are harmonized…the society will be harmonious….and…it's OK…to open a blog…but never give   out any words that vilify China or Chinese people…NEWYORK is not China…it's easy to buy guns there…so it's easy to do away with you.
作者：光光
你老一口一个同志,一口一个同志的,你知道吗?同志在中国还有另外的一个意思就是GAY,想必你是GAY(同志) 还有,我喜欢你的体型,鼓励你不穿衣服~ 现在的家庭哪还有挂毛主席照片的,我觉得你现在的崇拜有点傻,有点落后,要跟上时代的脚步~崇拜是在心里的~还什么毛主席语录,你当中国还处在20世纪60年代呢吗?
Author: Guang Guang
You always keep saying comrade (同志). Did you know comrade's another meaning in China is GAY? I suppose you are a gay (comrade). And I like the type of your body, encouraging you not to put on clothes~ Nobody would like to hang Chair Mao's portrait on the wall now. I think your present warship is a little silly and backward. You need to follow the trend of times~the worship is in your heart~as to the Chair's Mao's Little Red Book, do you think China is still staying in the sixties of 20th century?
作者：晴天Pi…
同志，你好！！ 我是在土豆上看到同志你的身影的，你很可爱哦！！也很革命哦！！ 不过你真的是国际友人吗？？不要欺骗我们的感情哦！！ 你的中文真的是自学吗？你好厉害哦，虽然还有些表达不是很流畅的地方，但是加以时日，你必定能成为一个中国通哦～～ 不知道在你心目中的中国是一个什么样的国家，只怕你来了以后会发现跟你想象中的会有所出入 但是 依然欢迎你来中国作客！！！ 还有，如果在中文学习上遇到任何问题，都欢迎你随时发问，我相信大家都会很乐意帮助你的~ 加油！！
Author: Qingtian Pi…
Hello, comrade!! I see your videos on Tudou. You're very lovely!! And also very revolutionary!! But are you really international friend?? Please don't cheat us!! Did you really learn Chinese by yourself? You're brilliant. Although some of your expressions are not fluent, after a while you will definitely become an expert of China~~ I don't know what China's like in your mind, but I'm afraid when come here you will find out there are some discrepancies between the real China and your imagination. However Still welcome to China!!! Besides, if you get any problems in Chinese, don't hesitate to ask us. I believe everyone is glad to help you~ Good luck!!
作者：WANGXin
红同志真可爱！ 请允许有五年党龄的我，代表全体为共产主义奋斗的中国青年向你致以亲切问候和衷心鼓励！ 希望你继续热爱中华人民共和国，喜爱中国，早日到中国与革命同志们会师！  和革命同志握手！
Author: WANGXin
Comrade Hong is very lovely! Please allow me who has been in Communist Party for five years, on behalf of all the Chinese youth striving for Communism to extend to you the cordial greetings and sincere encouragement! Hope you continue loving the People's Republic of China, liking China and come to China to meet the revolutionary comrades as soon as possible!
作者：chan…
可是我们还是比较喜欢穿衣服的人哦，下次记得穿衣服哈。 其实偶们是比较保守的，不太喜欢经常革命，一两次就够了。
Author: chan…
But we still prefer people in clothes. Please don't forget to get dressed next time. Actually we are very conservative and one or two revolutions are really enough for us because we don't like that very much.
作者：逆龙鳞
这些你写的blog大都涉及革命什么的字眼,其实…我们也不是以此来判断你是不是我们的朋友:） 嗯,还是不要走”红”为好,如果你喜欢,你可以以行动影响你们周边的人,比如推广一下中国文化,比如改变一下中国在他们眼中因不了解所造成的误解.自学的中文都已经很不错了,我们也很乐意帮助你…
Author: Ni Longlin
Your blogs mostly mentioned the revolution or the related words. In fact…we wouldn't judge whether you are our friend by that standard:) Eh, you'd better not go to the “red” way. If you like China, you may influence people around you, for example, by popularizing Chinese culture or dispelling their misunderstanding about China. Your Chinese is not bad especially when you study it by yourself and we are all happy to help you…
作者：Renee
支持你！喜欢东方文化毕竟是好事， 虽然表达的方式有点过激， 热情了点， 可是可以接受。（你可能不太了解，现在的中国人喜欢资本主义的东西， 不喜欢你把中国和苏联说到一起去， 你还是应该找个讲中文的人教你中文和中国国情） …
Author: Renee
I support you! After all, it's good to like the Eastern culture. Although the way you expressed yourself is a little immoderate and exciting, we can still accept it. (Maybe you don't know too much about China. Now Chinese people like capitalism things and don't want you to put China and USSR together. You'd better find a speaker of Chinese to teach you and tell you something about China) …
Faced with the questions and doubts, Honglaowai finally got on a blue undershirt in his new red song “March of the People's Liberation Army” and briefly replied to the suspicions in his blog:
同志们的问题
同志们好！
在优酷，雅虎，土豆 等网站我最近收到了很多评论。很多人有问题及建议。我现在要给你们回答
1。《唱歌时你怎么不穿衣服？你外猴子，侮辱我们的国家！！〉
我并不愿意侮辱中国。我人这个无产阶级 连衣服都没有。认真共产主义者说，不是衣服而是思想 是最重要的！
2。《你有什么目的?>;
我要庆祝共产党的成功
我要和平
3。《你的中文不够好〉
对阿。因为是自己学的。如果同志们愿意，你们可以帮我改过来 我还没去过中国大陆。如果我去的话，我肯定改良。希望明年有机会去中国
谢谢你们的支持。
革命万岁！
The Questions from Comrades
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Hello, comrades!
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Recently I have received many comments on Youku, Yahoo, Tudou etc. where people gave me a lot of questions and suggestions. Here I will reply to them.
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1.《Why are you naked when you sing the songs? You foreign monkey have insulted our country!!>
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I didn't mean to insult China. I'm a proletarian even without clothes. To the real Communist, the most important thing is whether he has thought but not clothes!
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2.《What is your purpose?>;
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I want to celebrate the Communist Party's success.
I want peace.
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3.《Your Chinese is not good enough〉
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No, because I learned it by myself. If comrades are willing to help me, you can correct it. I have never been the mainland. If I go to China, I will certainly improve my Chinese. Hope I can get a chance to China next year.
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Thank you for your supports.
Long live the revolution!
By this week, more than 75,000 people have visited Honglaowai's blog.  His latest MV published on Monday is a reproduced version of  止战之殇 （The Wound That Ends War) which is an anti-war song in 七里香 (Common Jasmin Orange)，the fifth album of Taiwanese singer Jay Chou.