Maori opera singer sees a new China at Expo
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Zane Te Wiremu Jarvis, a Maori opera singer from New Zealand, received a generous hug from an unnamed guard after his performance with a Maori kapa haka group at the grand opening ceremony of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai Friday.
"He knew it was the last time we would see each other and he had tears in his eyes. We just kept hugging and I thought 'wow'," says Jarvis in an interview with Xinhua at the Expo Park.
Jarvis shook hands with the guard at one of the entrances to the Expo Culture Center for five consecutive days during rehearsals. The guard did not speak English, but Jarvis said "Ni hao" every time.
Meaning "hello," it was the only Chinese he knew.
The guard was one of many Chinese to make an impression. Jarvis has been overwhelmed in the past week by volunteers and performers, including major Chinese stars like Jackie Chan and Lang Lang.
"We ate together and we laughed together. I took so many photos with them," Jarvis, 46, says. He believes those he met at the Expo represent "a new China."
Jarvis sees China's new generation as energetic, good at English, not so formal as older generations, and respectful, but more engaging.
"They are the people who can look me straight in the eye."
THINKING INTERNATIONALLY
Jarvis first came to Shanghai in 2006 for the Eighth Shanghai Art Festival. The invitation to the Expo opening came only a month ago.
"Shanghai Expo? Shanghai Expo. Shanghai Expo! Yes. Yes! Yes!!" he recalls saying in answer to the phone call at 4 a.m. in Australia, after which he canceled at the last minute another show in Melbourne.
"I have sung for U.S. Presidents Clinton and Obama, and it's such an honor to sing for Chinese President Hu Jintao and in front of 15,000 people live and a television world of over 1 billion people."
The Expo tour has been more enjoyable than many other places. "I know exactly when I will get picked up and what's happening next. Everything is on time and explained.
"There is an ethic in China that makes me feel I am treated with respect," Jarvis says.
He remembers how the Chinese workers brought him and the other Maori performers fruit and food at midnight after the ceremony. "Chinese staff think everything ahead and think internationally."
The new China not only works hard, but also works in a cleverer way, he says. "I've been to expos in Vancouver, Brisbane and Seville, but this one in Shanghai is absolutely 21st Century high efficiency."
GIVING IN RETURN
A Maori saying goes "Much is given, therefore much is required," Jarvis says.
He hopes to return to Shanghai in June for performances in the New Zealand Pavilion and a charity performance with all earnings going to an orphanage in China.
Born to a Maori father and a European mother, Jarvis was put in an orphanage at 6 months old before he was adopted. But he returned to the orphanage at 13 after his foster parents died.
Jarvis met his birth parents 10 years ago and added "Te Wiremu" to his name. "Wiremu" is the Maori rendering of the English name "William."
"I am an indigenous New Zealand Maori who honors the sky and the earth. I am not religious, not political. I just feel that when I have been given a lot, I must give it back," he says.
Jarvis wants to encourage contacts between New Zealand and China. "I always tell my 10-year-old daughter to play with the people that you have fun with, that you like to be with and that you aspire to be like. To me, Chinese people are like that."
Some anthropologists have suggested the Maori originated in China, he says, "Who knows? Perhaps we are very related."
He sees China very much together with the progressive parts of the world, considering its rapid changes over the past three decades.
"Anytime I am given an invitation from China, I will say yes."
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