Disappearing Act

If I could change my identity who would I be? J K Rowling? The money would be pretty damn good! Or Angelina Jolie? Six kids… hmm am not so sure. But in China I have met Justin Bieber, Jennifer Aniston and even Jackie Chan. 

The first time I noticed this phenomenon was with my real estate agent. The first day his name was Jackie and by the third day he says “call me Justin Bieber” and I just stared at him incredulously! I was like you know that you look nothing like Justin Bieber right? And he goes “no that’s ok, girls love Justin Bieber, so I just decided to change my name. I wish it were that easy. But in China it works. 

The influx of foreigners and their inability to pronounce Chinese names is what prompted this English names phenomenon. It makes it easier for Chinese to meet foreigners and foreigners to remember their names. This is most prominent among the low income and low middle class workers who by Chinese definition are the migrant workers that hold up the Chinese economic miracle. 

It is this set that recognises the value of learning English and how that can make a difference to a person’s career. So why Justin Bieber or Michael Jackson? There are two reasons. One, is the popularity of pop music in the average Chinese psyche and English songs are their first step to learning the language. So I’ve met Chinese who sing flawless songs in English right to the T, while their spoken English, less said about it, the better.

Migrant workers who flock to the cities usually want no reminders of their life back in their hometowns or villages. And by changing their names they find it easier to assimilate in the cities. They are all here to realize the Chinese dream. 

So why does this phenomenon deserve a mention? Because it is not that they get English names. It is how often they change their names. It’s how one day they are part of your world and the next they are just another person in milling crowds of these emerging cities.  Cities help them camouflage.  They make new friends, they change their numbers , they change their names and even their email and social networking ID’s.  And voila, they are who they want to be! It is like they never existed.

I have met some wonderful people in my one year here. Gone out, gotten drunk like a fish, sang avaaraa hooon mein with Chinese friends and their neighbours, shared food at common tables. But, a year later I have no idea where Kevin or Jackie or any of the others are or for that matter who they really are. One day they just disappeared! 

I have in my time here done a little research on why this happens and the reasons are many.

1.       It gives them an anonymity and helps them create an identity that would fit their career goals.

2.       You learn from your mistakes and then when you want to move on, the best way to do it is would be to get a new number. So your friends have no way to trace you. And you get a whole new start to life.

3.       Internet has become such an intrinsic part of their lives it helps them further live out their fantasies! The girls often put pictures of models or extremely photoshopped pictures of themselves to attract the elusive, perfect guy! The guys usually put up pictures of themselves in front of expensive cars.

4.      Microblogging allows them the anonymity to voice their opinion about issues in a tightly controlled media environment. And that too without revealing who you are.  ( Though recently  the authorities have clamped down on that by asking for real name registrations.)

5.       It also helps them lead multiple lives and one that does not intertwine. One for their parents and relatives back home and the other for themselves     

6.       The anonymity helps them change their fates, for better or for worse no one can tell.

Well, there are of course the legitimate reasons for changing names and these might not sound very surprising to us Indians;

1.       Usually fortune tellers will tell them that changing names will help them get married , get promoted and more importantly make lots of money(Wish they would qualify how much is lots of money  and how(il) legitimately you have to earn it!).

2.       Secondly, some of the names are ultra patriotic and can sound irrelevant today.

3.       Chinese by itself is a hard language to grasp and tones make up the language. And foreigners tend to butcher the Chinese names without of course realising it. I have called people pig, chicken and some other terrible things I would rather not say! And some names can also have unintended associations. And since Chinese is a tonal language, different tones can mean completely different things . 

 Fong Si-lung(literally translates to become the dragon) and Lei Siu-lung( literally translates to little dragon) are martial art actors most of us grew up watching or have at least heard of. We of course know them better as   Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee.  What’s in a name you say?